A drone operated by the NYPD captured footage of four children in the Bronx, including a 12-year-old who was surfing on a subway, marking the department’s 200th incident related to such dangerous activities since they started their crackdown in 2023.
Footage taken by the police’s technical response unit shows kids between the ages of 12 and 16 engaging in risky behavior.
The video illustrates the group climbing onto the roof of a moving train, then bouncing and swaying as they enjoy their precarious position.
The train eventually halted at Parkchester station, and law enforcement arrived to detain the young individuals, who were reportedly putting themselves in grave danger, according to an NYPD representative.
A department official shared in an email that this incident marks the 200th arrest related to subway surfing by drone units since their implementation in November 2023, suggesting that these efforts may have spared about 200 lives over the past 20 months.
Subway surfing has become a perilous trend in the city, with teenagers often getting seriously hurt or even killed while attempting these stunts. For instance, a 15-year-old boy lost his life on July 4th when he fell from train No. 7 at Queensborough Plaza Station around 2:45 a.m.
Additionally, a tragic incident last month involved a 24-year-old woman who was killed by a Manhattan train after being struck while fleeing from a dangerous stunt in the Bronx.
In light of these events, MTA officials have urged parents in the city to take an interest in their children’s activities, hoping to dissuade them from participating in these life-threatening endeavors.
