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By: Nick Carraway
A group of young thrill-seekers took a dangerous joyride on a stolen New York City subway train, posting videos of the reckless stunt on Instagram, according to police and transit sources cited by the New York Daily News.
In the video, one of the individuals is heard shouting, “Cover your faces! Cover your faces!” to the others. Another voice responds, “Cover your face, b—h.”
The three suspects, dressed entirely in black and wearing black masks, were captured on video operating an R160 subway car, reportedly reaching speeds of over 30 mph. The group returned the stolen R train to a location near where it was initially taken, police and transit sources said.
Police Investigating the Incident
Investigators are analyzing the Instagram footage to identify the suspects. The video shows the stolen train passing through at least one station on the express tracks and crossing at least one signal.
According to the Daily News, the joyriders likely passed an active train during their escapade. At one point, a suspect is heard yelling, “Train!” followed by instructions to “check [the] radio now,” seemingly to monitor whether they had been detected.
Police became aware of the incident when they responded to the Jamaica train yard in Forest Hills, Queens, around 10:20 p.m. Sunday. Transit sources said the R train had been taken earlier from a layup track in Brooklyn, where it was parked and secured because it wasn’t in use.
When transit workers checked the train, they found it relocated to a different spot nearby. The train doors were locked, and investigators believe the suspects used stolen keys to gain access. The train was later moved to the Jamaica yard as part of the ongoing investigation.
Social Media Clues
In a brazen move, the suspects disabled surveillance cameras by covering the lenses with black markers. Despite this, they posted videos of their stunt on Instagram. In one clip, a suspect can be seen sitting outside the front of the lead subway car, his feet dangling over the tracks.
A second video shared online showed another individual operating a different R160 subway car, making it reverse. The footage captured the headlights of a separate train trailing behind the reversing car. Voices off-camera can be heard urging the operator to “slow down!”
It remains unclear if the second video was connected to the same incident or if the suspects took multiple train cars for joyrides.
Not the First Stolen Train
This is the second subway theft reported in recent months, according to the New York Daily News. In September, two teenagers were caught after stealing a subway car from a layup track in Queens. Their joyride ended in a crash when their stolen train collided at low speed with another parked train.
Authorities are working to determine how the recent suspects gained access to the R train and what motivated their dangerous joyride. Investigators are urging anyone with information to come forward.
