Teen Falls From Brooklyn Subway Train While Surfing

The boy fell from the roof of a northbound train as it pulled into Hewes Street station at about 3:40 p.m., landing on the middle track, police said. He was believed to have been subway surfing, the practice of riding on top of a moving train. Emergency medical personnel took him to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. Police accounts gave differing descriptions of his condition: one said he was stable, while others described him as critical.

The J, M and Z trains were stopped after the fall, according to one account. Police had made no arrest and were investigating.

The incident occurred on an elevated stretch of track in Williamsburg. The J, M and Z corridor is among the city’s frequently used routes for subway surfing, a trend that has been promoted through social media videos.

The MTA and the former mayor’s administration launched a campaign in 2023 titled “Subway Surfing Kills – Ride Inside, Stay Alive.” The NYPD has also used drones to find people riding on train roofs and said it had made more than 200 subway-surfing arrests since beginning a crackdown that year.

The fall follows a fatal incident on the same line in May, when 14-year-old Akhai Butler died and an 18-year-old was seriously injured. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called that incident preventable, and MTA officials have urged families and others to warn young people about the danger.