Subway Surfer Dies Atop a 6 Train in Bronx After "Severe Head Trauma"
A 45-year-old man surfing on top of a northbound subway car on the 6 line died Wednesday night after hitting his head against an overhang, according to DNAinfo.
The unidentified man was riding atop the cars between the Whitlock and Elder Avenue stations in the Bronx when the incident occurred. He "suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene," the site said:
Witnesses said the man had been walking between cars and then climbed up onto the roof of the train where his head slammed into a hard object, police said.
It was not immediately clear what he ran into, but a police spokesman said it was likely a metal support beam or another piece of equipment.
This was the second 45-year-old man to die subway surfing in New York since October, challenging the old conventional wisdom that the dangerous activity is solely a young men's game.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told DNAinfo that subway surfing "is simply one of the dumbest things you can do. Don't do it."
It was perhaps the sagest piece of mass-transit advice since 2007, when a police spokesman in North Florida similarly told a local paper: "We need to get the word out to people: Don't sleep on the train tracks."
