The anguished grandfather of a 15-year-old boy whose body was found on a Queens train track in a possible case of subway surfing says he wants answers from the victim’s friends.
“I don’t think he would have gone there alone,” Lennox DeCruz told the Daily News Tuesday, four days after his grandson Anthony Bhagwandeen was found dead with a severe head injury on the elevated tracks at the Beach 90th St. station in the Rockaways.
“Let’s say he was (subway) surfing. He wouldn’t have gone alone. If he had friends with him, they didn’t stay. They didn’t stick around after he fell.”
DeCruz, who observed his grandson’s body at a mortuary, said Anthony also suffered two broken legs in the tragedy.
It was unclear if the boy was struck by another train or had fallen onto the tracks, according to cops, who believe the teen may have been subway surfing.
DeCruz said that would be news to him.
“I was shocked when I heard they found his body,” DeCruz said. “He never talked about subway surfing. He never told me.”
Anthony’s father shared his grief in a heartfelt online fundraising post.
“It is with profound sadness that I share the loss of my beloved son, Anthony, who left us far too soon at the age of 15,” Dhanraj Bhagwandeen wrote in a GoFundMe appeal. “He was a bright light in our lives, full of dreams and potential. The pain of losing him is overwhelming, and I am struggling to find the means to give Anthony the memorial he deserves.”
DeCruz said Anthony, a high school sophomore, was a first-generation American whose parents are from Guyana. He grew up in Queens’ Richmond Hill section, where he lived with his parents.
“He was a good kid. Playful in a childish way,” DeCruz said. “He liked sports. Recently he started playing cricket. He liked playing with his friends.”
More than 100 subway surfing incidents have been reported to police this year, including two which resulted in fatalities, officials said. A 13-year-old boy died after falling from a northbound No. 6 train in the Bronx last month.
In January, 14-year-old subway surfer, Alam Reyes, died after he fell from the roof of a southbound F train in Brooklyn.
The MTA kicked off a public safety awareness campaign last September to discourage youths from risking the dangerous stunt, often fueled by social media and peer pressure.
Two months later, the NYPD dispatched its first drones to look for surfers and warn motormen to stop their trains.
