A former writer for The Bear was handcuffed and removed from a train in NYC last week. Alex O’Keefe posted about the incident on Instagram, stating that he had been removed after a white woman complained to the train’s conductor about the way he was sitting.
Alex O’Keefe said he was the “one Black dude on the train”
In an Instagram post, Alex detailed the event that took place on a New York City Metro-North train on September 18. The Bear writer said he was “pulled off, handcuffed, and detained” after “an old white woman got on the train and immediately pointed at me and told me to correct how I was sitting. I refused so she went to the conductor and complained.” He wrote that the conductor then stopped the train and called the police.
In a video uploaded to the post, Alex questions Metropolitan Transportation Authority police as they handcuff him. He says: “I am the one Black dude on the train. This white woman said she didn’t like the way I was sitting on the train. So you called the police. So you called the police to arrest the one Black dude on the train.”
He also points out he “hasn’t done anything illegal.” After asking what he was being arrested for, he’s told “disorderly conduct.” An MTA representative later told People that Alex wasn’t arrested.
The MTA said in a statement that: “A conductor reported a passenger occupying two seats had refused to remove his feet from one of the seats. When MTAPD officers boarded, he refused police direction to exit. Officers told the passenger to depart the train onto the platform, where he would be able to board a following train.”
According to People, Alex was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and then allowed to board another train.
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