Norwood Man Defends Red Line Parkour Flip, Discourages Copycats
BOSTON (CBS) – Flips and jumps are second nature to Dylan Polin.
"It's just like ice skating or riding a bike," says the 23-year-old Norwood man. "You learn from every fall you take."
Polin has been practicing parkour for a decade now. It's urban stuntman sort of stuff developed from military obstacle course training.
His "best of" reel features some dangerous looking moves like jumping from the roof of one building to another.
But it wasn't until one particular clip hit social media recently that Polin jumped into the white hot spotlight. Polin posted a clip of him jumping from one side of the Red Line platform, over the tracks and landing on the other side.
"I'm proud of it," he says. "It's something I've been wanting to do since I was a little kid."
The video – just a few seconds long -- shows Polin make a short approach run on the Park Street subway platform before launching into a side flip over the Red Line tracks – landing on his feet.
"People started calling me an idiot," he says with a puzzled look. "Alright, cool."
It was anything but "cool" with the MBTA, where officials called the stunt "incredibly foolish," "extraordinarily stupid," and "extremely dangerous."
In fact, Transit Police point out that a misstep could have sent Polin tumbling into the track pit near the electrified third rail.
They are pledging to press charges against him – possibly trespassing.
"I'm sorry to the T," Polin says with a nervous chuckle. "But I had to do this before the end of 2014. It was a mental goal of mine."
Polin is quick to discourage copycats, arguing his months of study and practice for the Red Line flip made his only risk not sticking the landing – which he did.
"If I thought I was going to mess up something like this it would never have been an option in my mind," says Polin.
When shown Polin's handiwork, some commuters on the Park Street platform questioned his sanity while others didn't understand all the fuss.
"I thought it was pretty crazy," said one man. "Like if he hit the ground he'd die."
Another woman added, "He's crazy."
"Pretty impressive – I'm not gonna lie," offered a man nearby.
Polin says he doesn't mind the attention – but does feel the heat.
"Now we're in the middle of the fire, I guess," says Polin with a laugh. "But hopefully it'll be put out soon."
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