Man Dies After ‘Subway Surfing,’ Was High On ‘Synthetic Marijuana’

A 45-year-old man died after trying to catch a ride on top of a New York City subway car Wednesday. He was apparently trying to “subway surf,” and authorities say that he was high on synthetic marijuana.

The man hit his head on a beam overhead as the train pulled into the station on Wednesday afternoon, witnesses said. He apparently saw the overhead bar coming and tried to climb down from the car. He did not get down in time and smashed his head.

He fell between the cars and cried for help, though authorities say he was not run over. A friend of the dead man named Pablo Reyes said that they had stayed in the same homeless shelter together, and that he had been smoking synthetic marijuana before attempting to subway surf.

Reyes said that he only knew the man by the nickname “Grump.”

“He was hanging out getting high. I told him, ‘Stop getting high off that s***. It ain’t no good for you.’ He probably was hallucinating,” Reyes told the New York Daily News.

Reyes also said that Grump had apparently spread his arms out as he surfed the train. Reyes was frozen as Grump called for help, and seems to regret that he wasn’t able to intervene.

“I’m in shock. I’ve never seen anything like that. There was too much blood,” Reyes said.

Grump was taken to the hospital, but died less than an hour later.

Subway surfing, also called “skylarking,” is a new and rising trend. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Authority told DNA Info that the act is “simply one of the dumbest things you can do.”