DYING FOR A THRILL THE DANGERS OF 'SUBWAY SURFING'

PEOPLE ARE BEING KILLED AROUND THE COUNTRY TRYING TO RIDE ON TOP OF TRAINS. AS SOME BLAME SOCIAL MEDIA, ONE TEEN WHO BARELY SURVIVED IS WARNING OTHERS NOT TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE

- BRIAN BRANT

RIDING ON THE EDGE As more people climb trains (like this unidentified person in 2023), officials are becoming more vocal. "We cannot endure another tragedy," New York City mayor Eric Adams has said.

It was a cloudy June day in 2022 when 15-year-old Queens native Terrell Ismail—an aspiring filmmaker and avid biker, the kind of daredevil who'd do anything for a good view—mustered up the courage to conquer an item on his bucket list: ride on top of a 7 line train.

He never even saw the hanging metal that struck him in the head moments after he climbed the subway car. “The speed that my brain would have to process information, to try to duck,” Terrell, 18, says now, “I was already at the rod.”

Terrell survived, but just barely. He went into cardiac arrest, suffered a traumatic brain injury and needed surgeries on his throat and skull. Still, he says, “God has a reason for keeping me alive—to speak out against train surfing.”