A SEPTA police captain is warning that viral footage of a man clinging to a moving Philadelphia train could inspire copycats after the stunt drew millions of views online.
Marc Pasquarella, the transit agency’s police captain, said investigators are now working to identify the man seen crouched and swaying on the rear of an L train as it traveled between the city’s 40th Street and 46th Street stations. The passenger wore a Hawaiian shirt and a single earphone as he held on to the exterior of the train car, according to the video shared Tuesday.
“You are dancing on a thin line of life and death, because anything could happen,” Cody Langley said in the footage.
Passengers inside the train recorded the reckless display and uploaded it to social media, setting it to the “Spider-Man” theme tune. The clip carried a caption that read, “Only in Philly.”
Edquardo Chinnell, a passenger from Germantown, told WPVI he had never witnessed anything comparable. “Never seen nothing like that, that’s madness,” he said.
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said no injuries were reported from the incident, though the exact day it occurred remains unclear. The agency has launched a formal investigation into the man’s identity and actions.
“I don’t understand what makes people want to do something this dangerous,” Pasquarella said. “It’s insane. It’s extremely dangerous. Obviously, falling off the train, seriously injured or killed.”
The captain expressed particular concern that the viral spread of the footage could encourage others to attempt similar stunts. Authorities have repeatedly cautioned that subway surfing poses severe risks including fatal falls, electrocution from electrified tracks, and injuries from unstable or slippery exterior surfaces combined with high speeds.
The Philadelphia incident follows a string of dangerous subway surfing episodes in the Northeast. In July, a 16-year-old girl struck an overhead beam while riding atop a southbound A train pulling into Queens’ Broad Channel station during an afternoon stunt, law enforcement sources said at the time. She survived the impact. Two months earlier, a 14-year-old boy died while riding on top of a subway train across the Williamsburg Bridge.
SEPTA investigators continue working to locate and identify the man from the video.