A man in his thirties was found deceased on the tracks of the 238th Street subway station in Kingsbridge in the early hours of Tuesday morning, April 15, police said.

 

“Today, at approximately 3.18 a.m., police responded to a 911 call of an aided at 238th Street aboard a northbound 1 train within the confines of the 50 Precinct, ” a police spokeswoman told Norwood News. “Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious, unresponsive and unidentified male in his thirties on the tracks.”

She said EMS responded and pronounced the male deceased at the scene and added that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The investigation is ongoing.

 

The NY Daily News had described the victim as a subway surfer. Meanwhile, the New York Post has reported on a number of dangerous subway surfing incidents in recent months. Norwood News has also witnessed passengers riding outside in between subway cars, especially in summer on the elevated train tracks, though we don’t know if it was the case here. We asked the NYPD if the victim in this case had been train surfing, and the spokesperson said they could not confirm at this time.

 

On Jan 21, the FDNY said they received a call at around 5.59 p.m. for a report of an injured person on the tracks at East Gun Hill Road subway station serving the 5 train at Dyre Avenue in the Pelham Gardens section of The Bronx. They said one civilian with life-threatening injuries had been transported to Jacobi Hospital in Morris Park and the person’s condition and description were unknown. The NY Post reported that incident as being a subway surfing case.

Regarding the latest incident in Kingsbridge, we also reached out to the MTA for comment and a media spokesperson, Lucas Bejarano, responded, saying, “Northbound (1) train service was temporarily suspended between Dyckman St and 242 St – Van Cortlandt Park. Shuttle bus service was called for to take customers from Dyckman St to 242 St – Van Cortlandt Park station. Normal service resumed at 6:02 a.m.” We were referred by the MTA to the NYPD for further information on the incident.

 

We also asked the MTA what the agency is doing generally to combat subway surfing. Bejarano referred us to a 22-page letter addressed to U.S. Secretary for the Department of Transportation Sean Duffy. In it, the MTA outlines various safety challenges the agency faces, including the handling of persons who may be living with a mental illness and the dangerous subway surfing trend. The letter can be read in full here. Page 14 and 15 share information on the efforts underway by the MTA to combat subway surfing in particular.

These included in 2021 convening a Track Tresspass Task Force to combat unauthorized access to its subway tracks and cars through NYPD enforcement, sensors, and innovative technologies to detect trespassing, infrastructure enhancements, and customer campaigns.

 

On the customer messaging front, Bejarano said the agency’s work includes the campaign against subway surfing, “Ride Inside Stay Alive.” He said as part of a more recent partnership with comedian Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live fame, his voice can be heard in a recorded announcement asking passengers not to ride outside train cars.

Meanwhile, later on Tuesday, at Crescent Street subway station in Brooklyn, emergency services reportedly removed a person from the northbound train tracks and onto the platform, avoiding contact with a train, according to a Citizens’ App post. The station serves the J and Z trains. When contacted, the FDNY told us they received a call at 6.37 p.m. for a report of a person on the roadbed at 233 Crescent Street. They said the patient left prior to the arrival of EMS.

 

Back in The Bronx, it’s not the first time that a dangerous incident has taken place at the 238th street subway station, as reported. Click here for some related subway transportation coverage.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto theCrime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

All calls are strictly confidential.