The video quickly went viral in June: a group of people dashing across the roof of a moving New York City J train. Captured from far off, the train can be seen about to cross the Williamsburg Bridge, with its 40-meter drop to the East River — yet the daredevils, dressed in black, leap from car to car.
A similar stunt resulted in a far more horrifying clip days less than two weeks later, when a 15-year-old boy suffered a severe head injury while riding on top of a 7 train in Queens. Footage showed first responders hoisting the profusely bleeding teen off the roof and laying him on the floor with part of his skull separated.
On Monday, another 15-year-old boy in Queens tried to climb on to the roof of an R train with three friends, only to have his arm severed when he fell on to the tracks and the train ran him over, according to reports.
Photo: Bloomberg
New Yorkers call it “subway surfing”: a stunt riders have attempted and died from since the transit system’s earliest days, but which has returned as a disturbing trend over the last year among young men and teenage boys who often post the clips online.
According to statistics provided by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, there have already been 627 incidents of people riding outside of trains between January and July — up from 96 incidents during the same period last year.
ADDICTING RUSH
Ken, a Brooklyn resident, told the Guardian he was on an M train last week departing Manhattan’s Delancey-Essex station when a group of about eight boys wearing backpacks, some of whom looked as young as 12, boarded and began “hyping each other up.” Then they used the railings between the subway cars to climb on to the roof as the train chugged over the Williamsburg Bridge.
“Full speed going over the Williamsburg Bridge, we could hear footsteps on top. At times they were running,” he said. “I was quite concerned, obviously: if someone slips and falls, it’s game over.”
Ken said it was “sad seeing their careless attitude toward life, succumbing to peer pressure and doing these incredibly dumb actions.”
A New Yorker in his late 30s called D-Side said he had started subway surfing with his friends as a teenager, after he missed his uptown 6 train one day and decided to grab on to the back. The experience was “a rush like anything else” and even addicting.
“It’s a good feeling, even though it’s completely meaningless. Why does someone skydive? Why does someone use drugs? They like what it makes them feel. And then they keep chasing that over and over again.”
Then tragedy struck D-Side’s best friend, Alex Nasad, a graffiti artist who went by Drone. He was killed in 2002 while he was train surfing an uptown 1 train and apparently hit a support beam. “I think he was just shit-faced drunk. It was like: ‘Oh shit, look, I could go get a rush.’”
D-Side swore off train surfing after Nasad’s death. “A lot of people I know who I told this to are dead right now. So I don’t have clear-cut answers to how we stop people from doing this.”
The act of train surfing dates back more than a century in New York City. Local newspaper archives mention people getting maimed or killed riding on top of trains as early as 1904 — the year the subway opened — when two boys, 13 and 14, were struck by a low bridge while riding on top of a Grand Central-bound railcar, killing one of them and injuring the other.
One thing seems constant throughout the decades: the victims are young, male, and impulsive. As a 1991 story in the New York Times about subway surfing put it, the “risk is the lure.”
DEADLY CONESQUENCES
In 2016, a 25-year-old Instagram star was killed while trying to subway surf in Brooklyn, while apparently intoxicated. A Bronx subway surfer in his 30s was killed in 2017 after falling off and getting run over. In 2018, a 24-year-old man was electrocuted after standing on top of a commuter train following a Yankees game. In 2019, a 14-year-old boy named Eric Rivera was killed while surfing a 7 train.
“I can’t believe that you would risk your life to do that,” his mother told local outlet The City at the time. “What’s the joy of it, what’s the fun of it? I don’t see it.”
Last October, a 32-year-old man was killed while subway surfing when he fell on to the tracks and was run over by the J train.
There may be few more familiar with the stunt’s consequences than the doctors who treat its victims. A physician at a major trauma hospital in New York who asked to remain anonymous recalled treating a train surfer who had gruesome head injuries. Other physicians at the hospital were “pretty judgy” about the victim, the physician said. “The usual response is, ‘Wow, what a stupid thing to do.’”
“That’s what emergency care is for, I guess,” the physician added. “People live their crazy lives and we’ll always be here to witness it.”
The MTA’s chief safety and security officer, Patrick Warren, said in an emailed statement: “Riding outside of subway cars is reckless and extremely dangerous. This behavior can result in awful consequences, as it likely has for the young man who was severely injured on Monday.”
The MTA’s fine for riding outside of the train is US$75. New York’s train surfing casualties mirror a growing global trend of injuries and deaths from social media-related stunts, as app algorithms reward users for producing extreme content, sometimes as part of viral “challenges.”
D-Side believes the return of train surfing is “100 percent” correlated to social media usage, which has intensified people’s craving for attention. “It’s a hive mind. People chase clout. They care about other people’s opinions. They care about being somebody making a name for themselves. It breeds people wanting things right now.”
Today he’s a father who no longer chases adrenaline. “The thrill I seek now is just watching my kids grow,” he said. “Honestly, I feel lucky to be here.”
Following the shock complete failure of all the recall votes against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on July 26, pan-blue supporters and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were giddy with victory. A notable exception was KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), who knew better. At a press conference on July 29, he bowed deeply in gratitude to the voters and said the recalls were “not about which party won or lost, but were a great victory for the Taiwanese voters.” The entire recall process was a disaster for both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The only bright spot for
As last month dawned, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in a good position. The recall campaigns had strong momentum, polling showed many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers at risk of recall and even the KMT was bracing for losing seats while facing a tsunami of voter fraud investigations. Polling pointed to some of the recalls being a lock for victory. Though in most districts the majority was against recalling their lawmaker, among voters “definitely” planning to vote, there were double-digit margins in favor of recall in at least five districts, with three districts near or above 20 percent in
From Godzilla’s fiery atomic breath to post-apocalyptic anime and harrowing depictions of radiation sickness, the influence of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki runs deep in Japanese popular culture. In the 80 years since the World War II attacks, stories of destruction and mutation have been fused with fears around natural disasters and, more recently, the Fukushima crisis. Classic manga and anime series Astro Boy is called “Mighty Atom” in Japanese, while city-leveling explosions loom large in other titles such as Akira, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Attack on Titan. “Living through tremendous pain” and overcoming trauma is a recurrent theme in Japan’s
The great number of islands that make up the Penghu archipelago make it a fascinating place to come back and explore again and again. On your next trip to Penghu, why not get off the beaten path and explore a lesser-traveled outlying island? Jibei Island (吉貝嶼) in Baisha Township (白沙鄉) is a popular destination for its long white sand beach and water activities. However, three other permanently inhabited islands in the township put a unique spin on the traditional Penghu charm, making them great destinations for the curious tourist: Yuanbeiyu (員貝嶼), Niaoyu (鳥嶼) and Dacangyu (大倉嶼). YUANBEIYU Citou Wharf (岐頭碼頭) connects the mainland
RSS