NYC teen dies after hitting third rail during subway surf, cops say

A 15-year-old boy who was train surfing on a city subway died after falling off the roof of the train and landing on the electrified third rail Thursday morning, police and police sources said.

The teen was on top of a southbound J subway at the Williamsburg Bridge around 11:25 a.m. when he tumbled underneath the moving train and was killed, cops said. Police sources said the teen struck the third rail.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Paul Martinka

Paul Martinka

Paul Martinka

After the fall, the train was stopped on the tracks and about 700 passengers had to be taken off the subway, police sources said.

The teen’s identity wasn’t immediately released.

“It’s unfortunate,” a veteran Manhattan cop told The Post. “That’s a game. You can download subway surfer on your phone. They’re doing it all over.”

“We definitely need better monitoring,” he said. “These incidents will continue until we can get better control of the subway system.”

Over the summer, officials 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 he fell 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 boy’s left limb was 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 slammed his head while riding on top of a 7 train in Queens, and was found unconscious at the 111th Street station.

And in October 2021, a 32-year-old man fell to his death from a southbound J train near the Essex Street and Williamsburg Bridge station, with horrified straphangers seeing the man “falling from the train and getting run over.”