Drones help NYPD make 200 rescues from subway surfing since 2023, officials say

Drones have helped police make 200 rescues — mostly teenagers — from subway surfing incidents since November 2023, New York City officials said Monday, noting most apprehensions this year have happened in Queens.

Police said they identified 63 people as repeat subway surfers over the past few years. Since January, the average age of those removed from trains has been 15 years old, though alleged surfers have been as young as 11 and as old as 36, officials said.

The practice began gaining mainstream attention in 2022, largely thanks to social media, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. The NYPD said it has tracked 32 medical incidents, including 16 deaths, related to subway surfing since then.

The 7 line accounts for nearly half of all subway surfing apprehensions by police so far this year, officials said. In addition to the 7, the J, M and Z lines get the most complaints about subway surfing, as they have elevated sections of track that allow people to stand on top of the trains.

“ Subway surfing is dangerous,” Adams said Monday at a press conference overlooking parked train cars near the Mets-Willets Point station. “ It's not a game, it's not adventure. It's a dangerous action that must be dealt with appropriately.”

Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry said nearly 60% of 343 subway-related drone deployments since November 2023 identified subway surfers. Many resulted in arrests, he said.

“This drone program is saving lives,” Norma Nazario, whose teen son Zackery Nazario died subway surfing on the J train on the Williamsburg Bridge in 2023, said at the press conference. “That’s 200 kids who were stopped before it was too late.”

Nazario is suing social media companies Meta and TikTok's parent, ByteDance, for what she has argued is their role in promoting subway surfing on their platforms. A judge recently ruled the suit can move forward. At the time, a spokesperson for Meta said the company would continue to work with the MTA on addressing subway surfing by removing videos that violate its policies.

“Riding outside subway cars isn’t a video game, it’s suicidal, which is why the MTA monitors social media platforms, resulting in thousands fewer videos online glorifying that deadly behavior,” Shanifah Rieara, the transit agency’s chief customer officer, said in a statement.