11-Year-Old Boy Dies After Subway Surfing, Police Say

An 11-year-old boy was killed subway surfing in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, Sept. 16, the MTA confirms with PEOPLE.

At 10:10 a.m., the victim, who has not been publicly identified, struck his head on an overhang at the Fourth Ave./Ninth St. stop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Once hit, he fell to the tracks and was run over by the G train, NBC News 4, ABC News 7 and New York Daily News report.

The child died at the scene. 

“This is another avoidable heart-wrenching reminder that riding outside trains is not a game, and the subway is not a social media studio,” Demetrius Crichlow, NYC Transit’s interim president, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Monday.

The statement continued: “It should not take more tragic termination of young lives for parents and classmates of those who would climb on top of subway cars to help them comprehend the devastating risk.”

Subway surfing is when a person rides on top or on the side of a moving train. These prohibited acts are often captured on video and published to social media.

N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams released a statement to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday afternoon. 

“It is heartbreaking to hear another life cut short due to subway surfing,” he wrote. “Sending my prayers to the family of this young New Yorker.”

He continued, “We will continue to do everything we can to discourage this dangerous activity, but we need everyone to join our efforts. Through our #RideInsideStayAlive campaign, we’re going to continue working to keep our kids safe.”

City officials, the MTA and the New York Police Department are working to warn young people about the dangers of subway surfing.

An MTA staff member told PEOPLE that the public transit organization is flagging social media posts of subway surfing to combat and remove content that glorifies that deadly trend; the MTA has removed 10,650 posts across various social media platforms.

The child’s death is now the fourth — and youngest — child to die this year by subway surfing. The other children who were killed were all young teenagers, ages 13, 14 and 15, per The New York Times.

In January, 14-year-old Alam Reyes died after he fell while surfing a Coney Island-bound F train, per the NY Daily News. The child followed several subway surfers on social media.

Six months later, in June, Geradm Ashitey, 13, died after falling from a northbound No. 6 train in the Bronx neighborhood of Pelham Bay, the NY Daily News reported.

The next month, 15-year-old Anthony Bhagwandeen was discovered deceased with a severe head injury at the Beach 90th St. station elevated tracks in Rockaway, Queens. The cops believe Bhagwandeen died of subway surfing, per NY Daily News.

In addition to the four deaths, a 10-year-old boy was caught trying to subway surf in March, per PIX11. The child wanted to ride atop an A train in the Rockaway, Queens, but authorities removed him and returned him to his mother. 

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The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Monday.