Teen subway surfer died one day after junior high graduation, sources say 

BUSHWICK, N.Y. (PIX11) – There is nothing safe, new, or legal about subway surfing, yet it keeps happening. 

Another incident occurred Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn, leaving one teen dead and another one injured, police said. 

“I’m just truly, truly, sorry for the family,” Linda, who lives in the same building as 14-year-old Brian Crespo, said. 

Crespo died after he and another boy, Widison Garcia, jumped on an L train in Brooklyn. 

“My husband told me he was very respectful, very cordial, but with this generation, it’s just so different, you know?” Linda told PIX11 News. “You just don’t know how they’re going to respond. Peer pressure or whatever it is, it’s just terrible all around when you hear something like this.”

Police said the boys hopped on top of the train car at the Broadway Junction stop – an elevated stretch of the line – and hit a tunnel as the train approached the next stop.

Crespo was pronounced dead at the scene, a day after he graduated from junior high school, sources say. Garcia was badly injured and remains in stable condition at an area hospital.

“We urge anyone even thinking of subway surfing, don’t do it,” NYPD Transit Chief Micheal Kemper said. 

Mayor Eric Adams also released a Public Service Announcement featuring a discussion with Norma Nazario, whose son died a few months ago while subway surfing.

“I am so heartbroken. I will never see him graduate from college, get married, or have kids of his own,” Nazario said. 

The PSA with Adams lays out the seriousness of the problem: 208 people were caught riding outside subway trains in 2021, a number that drastically jumped to 928 people in 2022. Some, including 14-year-old Crespo, did not survive. 

“I have a son, a 20-year-old, so I feel for her and her family; it’s devastating,” Linda said.