NEW YORK — An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He’s the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
Cayden Thompson was riding on top of a G train when he hit his head on a metal overhang by the Fourth Avenue station and died.
His family spoke exclusively to CBS News New York’s Ali Bauman about their regret and warnings for other kids.
“Never doing that stuff again”
At 15 years old, Christian Vega is grief-stricken and plagued by guilt.
“I can’t really put it into words. He was literally always looking up to me,” Christian said.
Christian is Cayden’s uncle, but said they were more like brothers.
“He’s been looking at videos online and playing Roblox. They have Roblox games you can subway surf and stuff,” Christian said.
Christian admits he also made subway surfing videos, which he believes may have influenced Cayden.
“Same way he got hooked on it, I got hooked on it. I’d seen videos online, decided to do it,” Christian said. “It’s really easy to get hooked onto that stuff because once you do it, nothing ever’s gonna top it off, like that adrenaline rush you get.”