Cops ID teen killed in NYC subway surfing mishap: ‘A normal kid’

The 14-year-old subway surfer who was killed when he was thrown from an F train in Brooklyn was identified as a Queens teen described by neighbors as “a very good boy” whose single mom works long hours.

Alam Reyes was killed shortly before 2:30 p.m. Friday when he tumbled off the roof of the southbound train and onto the tracks — leaving a single sneaker and a puddle of blood on the street below.

“He grew up playing with my son,” one neighbor told The Post. “He is a very good boy. Very quiet, very respectful guy. He’s always smiling, a good boy.

“He has two dogs who he lives with,” the man said. “You always see him twice a day — in the morning and in the evening walking his two dogs. He likes to play video games. You know, he’s a normal kid.”

The neighbor said Reyes is the youngest of his mother’s three sons, and described the mom as a hard-working woman who moved to New York from her native Mexico more than 16 years ago and now puts in long hours cleaning houses to make ends meet.

A lone sneaker belonging to 14-year-old Alam Reyes, who was killed subway surfing in Brooklyn on Friday. Paul Martinka

“She’s a single mom and he is her baby,” the man said.

“We all do these things when we’re young,” the neighbor said of the teen’s death. “We do these stupid things and if we’re lucky we learn and we grow and we get to be adults. He was not lucky.”

Another neighbor said he was in disbelief over the teen’s senseless death.

“I don’t understand why he would do this,” he said. “I think he may have fallen in with the wrong crowd. His mother is always working. She is never here.”

According to police, Reyes was atop the train on elevated tracks between Borough Park and Midwood when he fell off and was struck by another train.

MTA stats show that there were 450 reports of people riding outside of trains during the first six months of 2023, a sharp spike over the 262 people attempting the dangerous stunt over the same period in 2019.

A puddle of blood on a Brooklyn street beneath the elevated tracks where a 14-year-old boy died subway surfing. Paul Martinka

Police said Alam Reyes, 14, was riding atop a southbound F train Friday when he fell off near Avenue N. Paul Martinka

In a statement Friday, MTA President Richard Davey called the latest tragic incident “heartbreaking,” and begged parents to drive home to their kids that subway surfing is a potentially deadly game.

At least five people were killed while subway surfing in 2023.

In September, Mayor Eric Adams launched a public service campaign to try to stop city youngsters from risking their lives by riding on MTA trains in the five boroughs.

Sources said NYPD cops have been able to stop nearly a dozen people every month from trying the stunt since the beginning of the current school year.