Subway surfing remains so horrifyingly common that police have nabbed at least 60 repeat offenders as young as 10 years old since the NYPD began cracking down five years ago, cops said Wednesday.
NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta, speaking just days after a 14-year-old boy plunged off Williamsburg Bridge, told reporters police have made inroads but continue to struggle to educate teens — and have hired a mom who lost her son to the dangerous stunt in 2023 to spread the word.
He said picturesque elevated tracks like the East River span is one of the horrifying favorite spots.
“I mean, it’s iconic,” Gulotta said. “As you go over that bridge, [there’s a view] both of Brooklyn and of Manhattan. I mean, that’s really what drives that location. It’s above ground, it’s one of the few stations.
“But it’s not just the Williamsburg Bridge,” he added. “I mean, we go out to the Bronx, we go out to the Rockaways. It’s not just isolated. It’s anywhere you have an elevated track — and if you don’t have an elevated track, it also becomes problematic, because we do see them running off the back of trains.”
The latest fatal fall came Saturday, when the tragic teen was struck by a beam and plunged to his death, while his 18-year-old pal fell to the tracks and was hospitalized in critical condition.
Cops said several more potential tragedies were foiled by police on Tuesday — three teens were detained around noon after they were spotted riding atop an F train in Brooklyn, and two others, 13 and 14 years old, were taken into custody after surfing on a J train that rumbled over the Williamsburg Bridge.
Joining Gulotta on Wednesday was Norma Nazario, whose 15-year-old son, Zackery, fell to his death while subway surfing on the bridge in 2023 — and now works full time to raise awareness.
“When the kid passed away, it impacted me heavily, because my mind always went there every day after Zach’s passing,” Nazario told reporters. “But that day it impacted me more, because it was the same train and the same bridge.
“But please stop subway surfing,” she said. “I’m here to speak with any parents. My role is to be out there, spread the news, awareness of the dangers of subway surfing, out to speak with the community, speak with teachers, young adults, anyone that would like to speak with me. I’m here for that.”
Over the past five years, the NYPD has used drones and beefed up efforts to scour social media to help stop the risk-taking teens, whose arrests are called “saves” by the department to underscore the danger.
Since the effort began 76 of the teens detained had MTA subway keys on them, police said.
“Our cops are tuned into subway surfing,” Gulotta said Wednesday. “When that call comes over, they treat it as a priority, and a lot of our saves are from our district officers that are out there on patrol, so it’s not just the drones that are doing this every day.”