Family of boy who died surfing on New York subway blames social media and himself

Christian Vega, the 15-year-old uncle of the boy who recently died while surfing on the New York subway, blames himself and social media for the tragedy that occurred in Brooklyn.

Cayden Thompson, 11, was riding on the roof of a G train when he hit his head on an overhang at the Fourth Ave./Ninth St. stop in Park Slope, fell onto the tracks and was hit by a train around 10:10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 16, the NYPD said.

Thompson became the youngest victim of the deadly practice of “surfing” that has become common on the New York subway, apparently encouraged by videos on social media.

The incident also occurred during school hours, when the victim was supposed to be in class, so the city’s Department of Education (DOE) is investigating what happened that day.

“He got into this situation by looking up to me,” said his 15-year-old uncle, who considered the victim his “brother” because they were raised together by Vega’s mother. “I’m a former Subway surfer,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Daily News after the tragedy.

“I used to do it. I would watch videos online, not just of myself, but of other guys as well. I always thought things were a competition… I’ll never do it again. After this, never again. I won’t even think about going into the tunnels again,” Vega said. “All of that is dead to me because I lost my little brother. He should still be here doing other things. He had his whole life ahead of him.”

He got into this situation admiring me… He had his whole life ahead of him.”

On Monday morning, Thompson’s young grandmother, who is Vega’s mother, walked the boy from her home in Whitman Houses to Fort Greene Preparatory Academy, where he had just started sixth grade. But the boy soon slipped out of the school unnoticed and headed to the Metro, according to his uncle.

“He somehow got away from school… They should have stopped him. And nobody did. That’s how he got on that train,” Vega said, adding that her mother normally carries a tracker in the boy’s backpack, but that morning it wasn’t there.

The uncle started surfing the subway at age 11, the same age his nephew was when he died. Vega says that when he realized the boy had also become interested in practicing the deadly maneuver several months ago, he alerted his mother. “We were telling him how dangerous this is… I told him every day not to follow in my footsteps. It’s dangerous. I told him every day. It’s not good. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Vega and his mother even tried to take away the boy’s cell phone to limit his access to YouTube and TikTok videos about surfing on the subway.

Cayden is the fourth victim to die while surfing on the subway this year. All of the victims were children under the age of 16.

“It is heartbreaking to hear that another life is being cut short due to surfing on the Metro … We will continue to do everything we can to discourage this dangerous activity, but we need everyone to join us in our efforts. Through our #RideInsideStayAlive campaign, we will continue to work to keep our children safe,” Mayor Eric Adams said Monday.

In March, police caught a 10-year-old boy trying to climb onto the roof of an A-line train in the Rockaways, but were able to remove him and deliver him to his mother before he could be injured or killed. This week’s victim was the youngest so far.

Of more than 100 subway surfing incidents reported to police this year, Thompson’s is the fifth fatality, including a 13-year-old boy in the Bronx in June and a teenager and an adult in January in Brooklyn. In July, a 15-year-old boy was found dead on the New York City subway tracks in Queens in another possible case of illegal surfing. There have also been at least five injuries.

The MTA launched a public safety awareness campaign in September 2023 to discourage young people from risking this dangerous maneuver. Two months later, the New York police sent out their first drones to search for surfers and warn drivers to stop their train, he recalled. Daily News.

Together, police and MTA officials continue to try to crack down. “Subway surfing kills,” Mayor Adams said during a visit to Bushwick station in June of last year following another tragedy. “We can do better, and social media must play a role in addressing this problem,” he added.

The MTA said it would ask social media companies to remove videos of subway “surfers,” Chairman Janno Lieber said in February 2023 a day after the death of Zackery Nazario (15), reported Gothamist. But that has not happened and the cases continue.

A record 928 people were caught riding outside New York City’s subway cars in 2022, more than four times as many as in the previous two years.

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