Cayden Thompson had became enraptured by subway surfing months before he died last Monday atop a G train in Brooklyn. The 11-year-old’s family said he was captivated, like other NYC kids, by videos of others, lured into the stunt by those who share their own exploits and through posts on social media. It’s a powerful force experts say is tough for kids to resist.
“Social media had the worst effect on my son’s life,” Cayden’s mother, Jaida Rivera, 27, said through tears. “He wanted to be cool. He thought all these things were cool.
He thought he wasn’t cool enough and he wanted to do these things, but he was so cool!” For months, his family said, Cayden had talked about riding a train – an activity that’s already cost four NYC teens their lives this year The sixth grader was riding on top of a train when he struck his head on an overhang at the Fourth Ave./Ninth St. stop in Park Slope.
He fell to the tracks and was run over by the train, cops said. “He was talking about (subway surfing) for a couple of months now. He would watch YouTube videos on it, TikTok videos, ” explained Cayden’s uncle, Christian Vega, 15, who was raised as the boy’s brother.
“We tried taking his devices away from him, so he can stay away from that. He still had the idea.” Vega previously said he feels partly responsible for his little nephew’s death because he partook in the dangerous stunt himself, even posting videos of his escapades online.
“He got into this situ.