A 14-year-old boy named Javen Fraser died while “subway surfing” in Queens on Thursday, marking the second death of a teenage boy in two weeks in New York City and his mother is begging for authorities to step in and put a stop to the deadly stunts.
(Video Credit: CBS New York)
The devastated mother is asking politicians to address the lethal trend. She told the New York Post on Friday, that her son had been an aspiring engineer and volunteer in the NYPD Explorer youth program. He was killed when he fell off a train car at the 33rd Street–Rawson Street station, suffering fatal head trauma. The teen was pronounced dead at Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
She tearfully recalled her son as a “funny child that was always cracking jokes,” as she railed against “dangerous” subway surfing stunts.
“I’m trying to get to the detective right now so that I can talk to the mayor so that we can try to get these kids from doing this on the subway,” the boy’s mother stated.
She also says that she wants “see what as a state what we can do to change these children from doing this because it’s not right what they’re doing to themselves.”
Fraser had just completed his freshman year of high school at Northside Charter School. He was a high achiever and had scheduled summer classes to attend before entering the 10th grade. His mother described him as “bubbly” and “the life of the party.”
She sadly recounted the last time she was with her son on Wednesday when they were at Coney Island eating at Nathan’s.
“We came home. I left him and went to work [on Thursday] and when I came home that was it,” the grieving mother recalled.
When the teenager never returned home, she called the police and reported him missing. She later got a call from NYPD detectives who told her she had to get to the hospital right away.
Saw kids subway surfing on the 7 this evening. Please never ever ever do this, it’s such a stupid and dangerous activity that multiple people have died doing in the last few months alone pic.twitter.com/ykZqByVZwS
— Jeremy “Looking for Arrows” Zorek (@jeremyzorek) April 11, 2023
NYC Subway Surfing pic.twitter.com/aWpwoRsr2t
— POP O’CLOCK (@pop_o_cIock) January 7, 2023
When the mother got to the hospital, it was already too late. Doctors took her to see her son’s body.
“I was so in shock, lost for words, don’t know what to say, still numb, don’t know how to feel,” Fraser commented while weeping. “I hold his hand. I touch his feet. Everything is intact. I touch his legs. The only thing I didn’t do was touch his face because his face was swollen and very badly.”
The dangerous stunt has become all too common among teenagers who take pics and selfies to post to social media while subway surfing.
Brian Crespo, 14, died last week when he fell off an L train in Brooklyn.
NYC Subway Surfing: Police Warning to Teens#subwaysurfing #trainsurfing #subway #train #MTA #NYPD #police #cops #NYC #NewYorkCity #publicsafety #TikTok #poc #safety #lawenforcement #thinblueline #staysafe #city #teens #kids #realtalk #truestory #positivevibes #facts #love #life pic.twitter.com/jQodxV8d49
— Michaelanthony (@themeatofit) June 25, 2023
Mayor Eric Adams is blaming social media platforms like TikTok for the lethal stunts. Videos on the social media platform idolize “surfing” on city subway cars and generate millions of views. TikTok has reportedly now taken down all subway surfing videos.
Fraser’s mother also blamed a popular game that her son played where users can jump atop a moving subway train.
“We all have our kids playing the game thinking it was OK … he used to play it all the time. You never think an innocent game would’ve done that,” she commented.
Another 14-year-old boy died in March when he slipped and fell between subway cars in the Bronx while riding on top of a number 5 train. A month before that, a 15-year-old boy was killed while subway surfing across the Williamsburg Bridge.
MTA data shows that there were 52 reports of people riding outside of subway cars in February and 58 in January, according to the New York Post. Adams stated last week that the number of individuals subway surfing jumped by 366% between 2021 and 2022.
Another mother named Norma Nazario, whose 15-year-old son was killed after he hit his head on top of a J train as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, told the New York Post in an interview last week that the MTA was “full of sh*t” concerning new protocols to stop teens from riding on top of the trains.
Zackery Nazario was born in Brooklyn, was an athlete, and wanted to go to the Marines. He was just a teenager who lost his life too soon.
Subway surfing kills. pic.twitter.com/9peejtlKOS
— City of New York (@nycgov) June 3, 2023
“The doors need to be locked unless it’s an emergency — then they can open,” Nazario remarked.
She said there should also be cameras and sensors installed so they can detect people leaving the cabin.
“The MTA has failed us. And it continues to fail parents. But they’re not going to do anything — it’s all talk and talk and talk. And the carnage continues,” the enraged mother asserted.
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