A 15-year-old suspected subway surfer suffered severe head trauma in a rush-hour accident aboard a 7 train in Queens Thursday and remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday, police said.
Cops say they think the boy, who is from the same borough where the injury occurred, was riding on top of a southbound train and hit his head on an unknown object as the subway pulled into the 111th Street and Roosevelt Avenue station shortly after 6 p.m. He was said to be unconscious and unresponsive as he was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital.
No other details on the case were immediately available.
Thursday's incident is the second subway surfing case to make headlines in the last week and a half.
Shocking video posted to TikTok showed a group of people standing, walking and even dancing on top of a moving subway train as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge.
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Subway surfing incidents appear to be on the rise. So far in 2022, MTA sources said there have been 449 instances of people riding outside of subway cars. That's compared to 68 such incidents in 2021 and 97 in 2020.
The head of the MTA is putting parents on notice.
"It's heartbreaking — there's a kid in the hospital, a family that is suffering. I see the parents, don't be one of those families and suffering as a kid did something for a thrill," MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said. "All we can do is try to discourage people from doing things that create a huge risk for them, suffering for their families and suffering for our riders."
