Subway surfing deaths have increased this year in NYC

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – At least six people have died subway surfing this year, an increase from 2023, according to police data.

A teenager was killed and another injured Sunday evening while subway surfing in Queens, sources told PIX11 News. The incident on a No. 7 train pushed New York City over a deadly milestone.

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Last year, five people died subway surfing citywide, according to the NYPD. With two months left in the year, the city has already reached six subway surfing deaths, police said.

Half of these deaths have happened in the last two months, including an 11-year-old boy who died subway surfing in Brooklyn in September.

Just last week, 13-year-old Adolfo Sanabria Sorzano died doing a TikTok subway surfing challenge in Queens, police said.

“Adolfo was a child full of life, with dreams and hopes, and his passing has left a void that is impossible to fill,” said Sorzano’s mother in a GoFundMe. “[He] tragically lost his life while he was doing this awful TikTok challenge subway surfing in New York City.”

Beyond these fatal incidents, a number of other subway surfing sprees have left people injured, like a 20-year-old who fell off the top of a Bronx subway last week.

The city in 2023 launched an educational campaign to stop subway surfing, asking straphangers to “ride inside” to “stay alive.” The MTA still works with social media companies to remove subway surfing videos, over 10,000 of which have already been taken down, a spokesperson for the MTA told PIX11 News in September.

“This is no game, the consequences we’ve seen time and time again,” said New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. “We just have to implore parents, teachers, schools, friends, anyone that knows someone that is involving themselves in subway surfing… to talk about the consequences.”

Announcements still play every five minutes at subway stations across the city reminding people not to subway surf as well as digital ads, according to the MTA.

“We really want people to get the sense that this is a life-or-death matter. There are consequences. There is no do-over,” Crichlow said.

Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here.

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