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.

[jimkress]

Evolution in action. The gene pool has been upgraded.

[07055]

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

[Yo-Yo]

Latest Darwin Awards candidate

[Semper Paratus]

Subway surfing is the best training you can do if your gunning for a "Darwin Award".

Right up there with Vodka drinking contests and homebrew bomb making.

[Cultural Jihad]

Evolution in action. The gene pool has been upgraded.

What a crass statement. Social-Darwinism is incompatible with conservatism. Try the Nazi Party if you have problems with inherent, inalienable rights.

[Oztrich Boy]

Try the Nazi Party if you have problems with inherent, inalienable rights.

Huh? Whose inherent, inalienable rights are being denied here?

[beezdotcom]

What a crass statement. Social-Darwinism is incompatible with conservatism. Try the Nazi Party if you have problems with inherent, inalienable rights.

What, you mean the right to have a bridge jump out of the way upon command? Right argument, wrong context....

[theDentist]

... homebrew bomb making
Huh? You've gotta tell me about this one.

[Camerican]

Man.... there is libertarian and then there is fanatical libertarian.

[FreePaul]

Apparently somthing someone said was interpreted as threatening the rights of the terminally stupid. I guess that the terminally stupid do have rights as long as they need them.

[m1-lightning]

A sport that was popular back in the eighties has slowly begun to creep back into fashion. Train surfing, an adrenaline fix of madness is fast growing among the graffiti crews of New York city. Riding the subways as they come up from the ground and start to ride overland seems to be a natural progression to tagging trains. There are several deaths every year of youths riding the roofs of trains. But still the crews go undeterred, not willing to let the names of those who died before them go in vain.Subway Surfing

[truthkeeper]

I actually know some people who happened to be on the subway car in question and semi-witnessed the entire event. (They saw the boys progressing from car to car.) The next thing they knew there was a big "thump" as their car hit one of them. Absolutely horrendous. I understand the first boy who died was an honor student.
Why people do such incredibly stupid and dangerous things I will never understand.

[Action-America]

Evolution in action. The gene pool has been upgraded.

Chalk another one up for natural selection.

 

[William McKinley]

Train in vain?

[expatpat]

Right up there with Vodka drinking contests and homebrew bomb making.

The combination of both activities is a particularly good training method.

[xp38]

Some thrill seekers say they feel most alive when they pushing the envelope and are on the edge close to death. I suppose it's the adrenaline rush and is akin to a drug high. I once asked someone from Japan about why some Japanese like to eat Fugu (a blowfish with poisonous parts that has to be prepared very carefully or you die). He said the best Fugu eating experience is where you can feel a bit of the poison in you but not enough to kill you.

[Semper Paratus]

... homebrew bomb making Huh? You've gotta tell me about this one.

The Gaza and West Bank's favority hobby.

[Zevonismymuse]

Why people do such incredibly stupid and dangerous things I will never understand.

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.

[Conservomax]

We really tried everything we could to help that family and their dipshit son.

[ClearCase_guy]

I understand the first boy who died was an honor student.

I remember when being an honor student meant that you were smart.