Video shows R subway train stolen in NYC, taken for joyride
NEW YORK - Police are searching for three people they say stole an R subway train.
The theft was discovered at around 10 p.m. Saturday, the NYPD said. According to police, MTA employees told officers people entered the unoccupied train, operated it a short distance, and also broke numerous train car windows.
The brazen thieves posted their joyride on social media, authorities said. The video shared on social media shows them inside the conductor's cabin, with one operating the controls, while one sits out the front door of the train with his legs dangling over the tracks, and other stands behind him.
Train's doors were locked
According to the NYPD, the R train was left secured on a layup track at the 71st Avenue Station in Queens. A layup track is used for storage of trains when they are not in service.
The MTA said R train 9108 was left secured and unattended by MTA personnel who, when they returned, found it had been moved from its original location - the thieves had returned the train to an area near where they took it from.
The doors of the train were locked, which indicated someone had entered the train using transit keys.
"They obviously knew something about both where the train was and how to operate a train, and how to get the keys," transportation expert Robert Paaswell said. "Once you start it, it's just a throttle, and you use the throttle to move it and to slow it down."
It's not clear how the long the trio operated the train, or how far they took it. Social media video, however, shows the train being operated at a high rate of speed. Authorities said the intruders wore all black and black masks and covered camera lenses inside the train with black marker.
After MTA workers determined the train had been moved, they took it to the Queens train yard to analyze its "black box" data to figure out where it had been taken, and for how long.
"New York City Transit is working with the NYPD on their investigation of this incident," an MTA spokesperson said.
The incident is being investigated as an act of reckless endangerment. So far, there have been no arrests.
Not the first time trains have been taken
It's not the first time unauthorized persons have taken trains for joyrides.
In September, two teens tried to operate an unoccupied train in Queens and ended up crashing it, damaging the car. Two 17-year-olds were charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief in the incident. There were no injuries.
In January of last year, a vacant R train was taken from the Forest Hills/71st Avenue station and driven onto train storage tracks. No one was injured.
Commuters say someone could have been hurt.
"Imagine somebody is in front of the train right now and they're hanging off, and then say the train stops. They can fall on the tracks and the train would run over them. It would be over," one commuter said.
"Social media. Too much of the phone," said another.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
