Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She has been with PIX11 News for two years. See more of her work here.
NYPD drones save more than 100 subway surfers in NYC: Mayor Adams
NEW YORK (PIX11) --- Hundreds of drones have helped save more than 100 young people, including a 9-year-old, who were subway surfing on New York City trains in the past year, according to Mayor Eric Adams.
"Subway surfing is not a game," Adams said at a press conference Thursday.
The mayor said there have been 900 NYPD drones deployed that have caught and stopped 114 riders, including one that was just 9 years old. The average age of subway surfers is 14. The oldest was 33.
The drones are used to monitor the most popular subway lines used for the dangerous activity, including the No. 7 train. The NYPD used 911 calls to send drones and officers to the necessary areas.
Officers have apprehended 41 people who have been arrested more than once for subway surfing, police said.
"This is not fun. This can be fatal," Adams said.
MTA gets social media platforms to scrub subway surfing videos
City officials said social media is one of the biggest culprits in promoting subway surfing and are going after the various platforms. MTA CEO Janno Lieber said this week the companies have been mostly compliant about removing the videos.
“We’re always checking every day to make sure they do take them down,” Lieber said.
Two teens were recently killed subway surfing in New York City, including a 13-year-old boy, Adolfo Sanabria Sorzano, who was doing a TikTok challenge, according to police and the boy’s mother.
Milene Sorzano told PIX11 News that she found videos of her son subway surfing on his phone and social media despite warning him against riding on trains.
“My son Adolfo Sanabria Sorzano, only 13 years old, tragically lost his life while he was doing this awful TikTok challenge subway surfing in New York City,” Sorzano wrote on a GoFundMe page raising money for Adolfo’s funeral costs.
A 12-year-old girl was critically injured Sunday while subway surfing on top of the No. 7 train in Queens with her friend, Krystel Romero, 13, who died, police said. The 12-year-old was still critical as of Thursday, police said.
An 11-year-old boy was also killed while subway surfing in Brooklyn last month, sources told PIX11 News.
"We're going to put an end to this reckless behavior," NYPD Interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon said.