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Bronx boy killed while subway surfing at Queensboro Plaza in Long Island City: NYPD

A Bronx boy was killed while subway surfing on top of a 7 train entering the Queensboro Plaza station in Long Island City on July 4. QNS/file

July 8, 2025 By Bill Parry

The MTA is once again warning the public of the perils of subway surfing, days after a Bronx boy was killed after falling from the top of a 7 train in Long Island City.

During the early morning hours of Friday, July 4, police from the 108th Precinct and Transit District 20 responded to a 911 call of a young male in need of medical attention just after 2:45 a.m. at the Queensboro Plaza subway station.

Upon arrival, they found the youngster lying on the track bed unconscious and unresponsive, police said. EMS rushed the boy to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where he was pronounced dead. He was later identified as Carlos Oliver, 15, of Sheridan Avenue, in the Bathgate section of the Bronx.

Investigators determined that Oliver was riding on top of the 7 train as it entered the station when he fell off onto the tracks below.

“This was as avoidable as it is tragic,” NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said Tuesday. “I implore family, friends, teachers, and anyone else who knows children that are even thinking about riding outside subway cars, to persuade them it’s not some video game, it’s suicidal.”

Laurelton native and BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester was at the Queens Plaza station in Long Island City last month to announce new initiatives in the “Ride Inside, Stay Alive” anti-subway surfing campaign.
Photo by Marc A. Hermann / MTA

The MTA updated its “Ride Inside, Stay Alive” campaign audio announcements last month, featuring professional BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester, of Laurelton, talking with children about the dangers of subway surfing. Those messages are played every 10 to 15 minutes inside subway stations and subway cars along the 7 line.

Syvlester joined Crichlow and high school students to roll out the latest initiative at the Queens Plaza subway station in Long Island City on July 11.