Alex O'Keefe, a former writer for the award-winning hit show on FX, The Bear, was handcuffed and removed from a New York City Metro-North train on Thursday, September 18, as an old white lady complained that he was sitting incorrectly.
The 31-year old Black author showed recordings, of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police taking his wrists and putting him in handcuffs, on his Instagram page. That seems to be his only post for now.
In the video, he says, "I'm sitting in the train and you're trying to arrest me for what?" as the video shakes. There was another old white man, sitting in the compartment opposite the white lady's, all calm and collected.
“I am the one Black dude on the train,: he said to the MTA police.
“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.” The lady, in question, had a blue mask on her face.
In his caption, he detailed the situation.
He said that he was arrested on the @MTA train to Connecticut today, pulled off, handcuffed, and detained. 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. The conductor called the police and stopped the train. While waiting for the police to arrive, the old Karen’s friend said “You’re not the minority anymore.”
"The police told me to leave the train, I refused and asked what was I doing illegally. They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train. They pulled me off the train and arrested me without even talking to the Karen who reported the one black person on the train. On the platform, the police detained me and interrogated me. Only black folks stayed nearby and recorded the arrest. When I demanded a lawyer and reminded them they didn’t even take a statement from the woman who complained they eventually released me. This country is growing more psycho by the day. What will you do about it?" he wrote.
Some asked to clarify if he had his feet up on the seats, but others identified the police and stated the officers' names and badge numbers in comments.
The MTA said that Alex had stretched out both of his legs stretched across an adjacent seat, which is against MTA rules. That was documented by on-board security camera video, per their statement.
MTA Chairman Janno Liebe addressed the incident at a press conference, saying "it's that simple" to "respect other passengers" by taking feet off the seats. Apparently, Alex had delayed the train's departure by 6 minutes by refusing to get off and board the next one, according to officers.