A masked group shared part of their stunt on social media, and are being sought by police
New York City police are searching for a group of people accused of stealing a subway train in Queens and taking it for a joyride over the weekend.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) released images and footage of six individuals who they believe took control of an unoccupied ‘R’ train.
The theft took place before 10:30pm on Saturday near the 71st Avenue station in Forest Hills, according to the NYPD. Officers initially responded to reports of vandalism but were instead met by an employee from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), who reported that several individuals had boarded an unoccupied R train and taken it on a brief joyride.
The thieves captured the moment and shared it on social media, posting videos of themselves inside the conductor’s cabin and hanging out of the front door.
One video shows a person operating the controls while another sits on the front door of the train with their legs dangling over the tracks, and a third person standing behind him.
According to the NYPD, the R train was secured on a layup track at the 71st Avenue Station in Queens. The MTA stated that the train was left unattended, and upon return, personnel found it had been moved but returned near its original spot. The locked doors indicated the intruders used transit keys to access the train.
“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 told CBS. “Once you start it, it’s just a throttle, and you use the throttle to move it and to slow it down.”
It’s unclear how long the trio operated the train for or how far they traveled, but social media videos show it moving at high speed. Authorities said the intruders wore all black, masked their faces, and covered onboard cameras with a black marker.
After discovering the train had been moved, MTA workers took it to the Queens train yard to analyze its ‘black box’ data.
An MTA spokesperson told reporters that New York City Transit is working with the NYPD on its investigation of the incident.
Police said the incident is being investigated as reckless endangerment, but no arrests have been made yet.
