Mother of teenager who died in subway surfing stunt warns against dangerous social media trend

A mother whose teenage daughter died in a subway surfing stunt gave an emotional warning to other teens to not participate in the dangerous social media trend.

At around 11pm on Sunday (October 27), Krystel Romero and her friend rode on top of a southbound No. 7 train. They both fell between the cars and were run over at 111th Street station in Queens, New York, according to police.

Romero was pronounced dead at the scene while her friend was in critical condition at Elmhurst Hospital where she had a fractured skull, a brain bleed and couldn’t breathe on her own, The New York Postreported.

Speaking to the publication,Romero's mother, Maria Elena Ortiz, expressed the grief she was feeling from her daughter's passing and stated she doesn't want another family to go through this painful experience.

“Stop [subway] surfing — it’s not a game,” the 31-year-old said, speaking through a translator on Tuesday. “If you die, think of the pain you will cause your family. Please kids, don’t do it."

“I don’t want to live right now,” Ortiz admitted. “I feel so desperate. She was my baby.”

Subway surfing is a dangerous trend which has result in 11 deaths within the past two years in New York City.iStockphoto by Getty Images

Ever, a family friend also shared that no one was aware that Romero was subway surfing and echoed Ortiz's warnings against the alarming trend.

“Social media is crazy right now. They just want likes,” Ever said. “Don’t take a risk just for TikTok likes. They think they can make money from their social media.”

Romero isn't the only person to die from subway surfing, there have been six deaths so far this year - that's up from the five deaths that occurred last year.

Just last week, a similar death occurred when 13-year-old Adolfo Sorzano died subway surfing in Queens.

“Please think about the pain it will cause your parents," his grief-stricken father, Adolfo Sorzan said to the same outlet on Monday and begged other kids not to ride on the top of the subway trains.

On Tuesday (October 29), NYC Mayor Eric Adams spoke about Romero's death and the impact of social media on the youth of today during his weekly press conference.

“I don’t know if we really understand what social media is doing to our children,” Adams said.

“Social media has radicalized and hijacked our children. "

"It’s unimaginable that you can ride on a subway train and 10 million people will view [it], and we show that over and over."

He added: “They are more impressionable at those young ages. You know, as children, you leave a karate movie and you start kicking like Bruce Lee. And that’s the same thing.”

So what is being done to prevent this?

Within the subway system, there are “thousands and thousands” of printed and verbal messages that play while requesting for social media sites to take videos down that a related to the trend, says Metropolitan Transit Authority CEO Janno Lieber.

In addition, Lieber also said that parents and schools must “bear down hard on kids who have shown a propensity to do this, because we’ve got to save their lives.”

“Please! Parents, teachers, other caregivers — make sure kids understand this is not a game. We need people to pull kids back when they get involved with this,” he added.

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