2nd Subway Surfer Dies

NY Newsday ^ | 11/20/03 | Daryl Khan

[jimkress]

The second of two SUNY Maritime College students who slammed into a bridge while riding atop an elevated subway in the Bronx last week has died, officials said yesterday. Brian Hochstetter, 21, was critically injured when his head hit the Whitlock Avenue bridge and died Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. "We did everything we could," said Jacobi Medical Center spokeswoman Nancy McPartlin. "We tried. We really tried everything we could to help that family and their son. Our hearts go out to them." Hochstetter and Christopher Loughrey, a friend and classmate, were riding on the northbound No. 6 train on Oct. 20 after a night in Greenwich Village with two other classmates. Loughrey and Hochstetter climbed on to the back cars and were surfing when they collided with a steel girder of the Whitlock Avenue bridge, while the two other classmates stayed on the train. Loughrey, 22, died of a fractured skull immediately. He was buried Monday. The conductor discovered Hochstetter between the last two cars of the train. His friends pulled him in to the train and went for help. He was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was being treated for head wounds since he was admitted. The pair served a term at sea on the Empire State VI, one of the school's training ships. Hochstetter showed signs of improvement in the days immediately after the accident, but succumbed to his injuries and died Tuesday afternoon. Hochstetter worked as a deckhand on the Sea Queen, a party fishing boat out of Sheepshead Bay, a family member said. Relatives said they had not yet made any funeral arrangements.

[Living Free in NH]

It's the city's fault for not warning these poor boys. (sarcasm)

Maybe the cities will start painting big warning signs atop the subway cars -

"Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Subway Surfing Can Lead To Decapitation or Severe Headache."

[m1-lightning]

Maybe the cities will start painting big warning signs atop the subway cars -

Better yet, do like the Canucks do similar with cigarette packs - post really large pictures on top of the trains that show what happens after an accident.

[calvin sun]

Is SUNY Maritime College different from the Merchant Marine Academy? The latter is at College Point Queens.

[IYAS9YAS]

I would hardly compare the calculated efforts of the Wright Brothers to the moronic actions of these twits. Stupid doesn't mean visionary. Cold and mean? Yup. Life is hard, it's harder when you're stupid.

[tiamat]

I agree with you.

The chill in this room is awful!

Tia

[stop_fascism]

The right to ride on top of subway cars. I believe it's in the penumbra of the 9Th amendment. Obviously NY should immediately redesign all bridges to allow the safe passage of anyone 8 feet tall or less.

[RightOnline]

Tragically stupid.

[Zevonismymuse]

Life is hard, it's harder when you're stupid.

I will defer to your personal experience with the difficulty of life for stupid people.

I do not confuse intelligence with judgement. I know many brilliant people who engaged in dangerous behavior seeking youthful thrills. Thank God the overwhelming majority averted tragedy and managed to lead meaningful productive lives.

[Zevonismymuse]

The chill in this room is awful!

I am hoping this is just a case of folks not yet having their first cup of coffee.

[BlueLancer]

"It is this crazy thing called "youth". I cannot believe the cold and mean things being said about these young men. This was obviously a very foolish stunt, but I have no doubt that these were fine, intelligent young men who gave into the urge for an adrenaline rush. They could have possibly been alcohol impaired, but it could have simply been an ill-advised attempt at fun. As the mother of three young adult children, I am hurt by the attitude of some of the posters here. Finally, I am glad that there were idiots like the Wright brothers."

Sorry, but I view this right up there with playing Russian Roulette. That will surely give you an adrenaline rush, right up until the time you find the loaded cylinder.

It's also akin to the attitude reflected on my bumper sticker ...
AIDS AND HOMOSEXUALS: Evolution in Action

If you play with fire, you're going to get burned eventually. That doesn't even remotely imply intelligence ... and, to make these activities analogous to the Wright Brothers well-planned experiments ... all I can say is that I hope those "three young adult children" survived your "if it feels good, do it" attitude.

[beezdotcom]

Obviously NY should immediately redesign all bridges to allow the safe passage of anyone 8 feet tall or less.

Whereupon this action will be immediately challenged under the Americans with Disabilities Act on the grounds that it discriminates against persons OVER 8 feet tall, who, by their current non-existence, are unable to file a lawsuit on their own behalf.

[jimkress]

Ah the Liberals have arrived and rise to the defense of the terminally stupid!

[jimkress]

Ah the Liberals have arrived and rise to the defense of the terminally stupid!

[ArrogantBustard]

Finally, I am glad that there were idiots like the Wright brothers.

Your comparison of Orville and Wilbur to these train-surfing idiots is both ignorant and insulting. The Wrights (and, for that matter many of their late 19^th Century predecessors) were careful engineers, who went to great lengths to understand and implement the theory and practice of aircraft control before building and operating manned flying machines.

[jimkress]

Of course, the excruciatingly stupid are the natural constituency of the Left so they desperately strive to preserve, protect, and enlarge this segment of the population.

[Cultural Jihad]

No, the moral-liberals have arrived to laud the purity of the race as something more important than the untermensch lives of two youths.

[beezdotcom]

The chill in this room is awful!
I am hoping this is just a case of folks not yet having their first cup of coffee.

Don't blame us. Death creates the chill. Stupid death makes it awful. Commenting about it is only another way to add to the deterrence factor.

Put it this way; the threat of death alone wasn't enough to stop these kids - but maybe the fear of post-mortem ridicule might stop some other young adult child from doing the same thing.

[Cultural Jihad]

"The God-damned Untermensch are reaching plague proportions again! Anyone for a Fourth Reich?"

[hobbes1]

My thoughts exactly.