Former model Brian McClellen tragically dies after catching fire while riding train in New York

A YOUNG model and actor who posted videos of his daredevil stunts on social media has died after climbing on top of a city train.

A MODEL and actor who caught fire after climbing atop a Manhattan-bound Metro North train has died from his injuries, his agent told The New York Post on Monday.

“I kind of knew if he lived through the night it would be a supreme miracle,” said Ryan Colby, the agent for Ohio native Brian McClellen, 21. “I’m a realist and was prepared for this.”

Colby said he was told by McClellen’s Manhattan roommate, who was at his hospital bedside, that the model died sometime Monday morning. Mournful tributes have appeared on social media.

Video taken at the Stamford rail station shows an apparently intoxicated McClellen climbing on top of the New Haven line train shortly before 5:10am. Sunday in Riverside, Connecticut, a source said.

Investigators believe the victim, who lived near Union Square, was burned after coming in contact with the train’s pantograph, a metal arm that collects power from the 12,500 volts in overheard wires.

Workers found McClellen after going to investigate why power was cut to the train.

The crew used an extinguisher to put out the smoking man atop the sixth car.

McClellen was hospitalised with electrical burns, some third-degree, on more than 90 per cent of his body.

Brian McClellen. Pic: Facebook.

Friends and family were heartbroken over his death.

“My dear nephew Brian, my heart aches this morning,” wrote Patty Waugaman McClellen in a Facebook post.

“I will miss you dearly, your beautiful smile, your warm personality, and your positive outlook on life. You were such a wonderful joy to us all. Be at peace, it was too soon for you to be taken from us all, you will be in our hearts forever.”

Colby told The Post that the actor had been booked last week for both a TV show titled “Younger’’ with Hilary Duff and for a Pierce Brosnan movie called “Urge.”

McClellan decided to go with “Younger” and was set to begin work next week, Colby said.

“I was just saying I was so proud of him,” Colby said. “We’d had a rocky road for a couple months last year. He was being mischievous and not checking in, and I had to have a little sit-down with him last winter and said, `Look, Brian, you’ve got to get it together. If you want to do this, you can’t disappear for three days, four days. You’ve got to be communicative. I’m your agent, I need to know where you’re at seven days a week.’

“He turned it around. He said, ‘Look, I’m sorry, I’m just going crazy I’m in New York, I’m trying to have fun.’ I said, ‘Look, you can have fun, but you’ve got to work.’ And he did.

“Every day, he would tell me, ‘I’m working at 3 o’clock, I’m doing this at 2 o’clock, I’m going to the gym.’ He was super communicative. He totally turned it around, and I was super proud of him. His work increased because if I feel I can get ahold of you, I’ll get you more work.”

McClellen was apparently a daredevil, posting on social media videos that appeared to show him leaping off roofs and off a small bridge.

His Facebook page also included many happy posts, including updates on a trip to Las Vegas, attending a “Live! With Kelly and Michael” taping, and taking the Ice Bucket Challenge for the ALS Association.

In a post last year, he wrote: “I know I’m going to change the world. its only a matter of time.”

This article was originally published on the New York Post and is republished here with permission.