Subway Surfing NYC Teen Tumbles Underneath Moving Car, Dies

A 15-year-old boy lost his life after falling from the roof of a train while subway surfing in New York. He hit the electrified third rail and was pronounced dead at the scene.

As emergency crews responded, around 700 passengers on the train were evacuated. The boy's death also led to the disruption of train services in both directions.

The tragic incident took place Thursday as the teenager, whose identity was not immediately released, was riding on the southbound J train in Brooklyn, PIX11 News reported.

The teenager was on the roof of the train at 11:23 a.m. when he fell underneath the moving car and touched the third rail near the Marcy Avenue station in Williamsburg.

A train conductor had spotted the teenager while he was subway surfing. However, the boy fell to his death by the time the conductor called for help, a source told the outlet.

"It's unfortunate," a veteran Manhattan police officer told the New York Post. "That's a game. You can download subway surfer on your phone. They're doing it all over."

"We definitely need better monitoring," the cop added. "These incidents will continue until we can get better control of the subway system."

An NYPD spokesperson said subway surfing is "incredibly dangerous" in a Thursday statement.

"Riding on the outside of a subway car is not only illegal, but incredibly dangerous," the spokesperson said, as quoted by PIX11 News. "Each year we see teens killed engaging in so-called subway surfing. We enforce rules prohibiting moving between the train cars in order to combat this dangerous behavior."

Officials, over the summer, warned of an increase in train surfing among teens and blamed the rise on social media.

In August, a 15-year-old boy lost his arm after falling off a northbound R train at the 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue station in Jackson Heights while trying to climb on top of the car to subway surf, the New York Post report added.

The boy's left limb had to be detached "from the elbow down," and, "they found his arm under the train," a transit worker at the scene said at the time.

In June, another 15-year-old banged his head while riding on top of a 7 train in Queens, and was found unconscious at the 111th Street station.

NYPD Chief of Transit Jason Wilcox said at an MTA board meeting in June that subway surfing is an "unfortunate trending issue" where, in most cases, teenagers record themselves while riding on the subway and post clips on social media.

Community leader Craig Housen believes teenagers resort to subway surfing as a means of entertaining themselves.

"This is not the first or second occurrence, and this is largely due to the fact that we are not making resources available to our Black and Hispanic youths of Williamsburg," Housen said. "What happens is they find other ways and means to entertain themselves, and most of the time it's not usually safe."