A onetime author for FX’s hit present “The Bear” was taken off a New York Metropolis commuter practice in handcuffs in a dispute over how he was sitting — an incident he recorded in a video shared broadly on social media.
Alex O’Keefe, who’s Black, stated in an Instagram put up that he was headed to Connecticut on a Metro-North practice Thursday when he was eliminated by police after a white lady complained to a conductor about the way in which he was sitting.
Responding to questions on O’Keefe’s video, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority stated safety video confirmed he had been sitting with each legs stretched throughout an adjoining seat — a violation of the rail line’s guidelines. The MTA stated a conductor known as police after the passenger refused to maneuver his legs.
Police briefly held the practice at a station within the Bronx round 10:30 a.m. The MTA stated officers handcuffed O’Keefe after he refused to exit the practice. O’Keefe recorded a part of the interplay.
“You’re going to arrest the one Black dude on the practice, as a result of this white lady stated she didn’t like the way in which I used to be sitting on the practice,” O’Keefe instructed officers within the video as he factors to the girl. He then says thrice that he did not do something unlawful. An officer then begins to place handcuffs on O’Keefe and one other tells him to cease resisting.
“Resisting what? Resisting what? What are you trying to arrest me for?” he says. The video ends shortly after.
O’Keefe posted one other video taken by a bystander that reveals him dealing with a wall in handcuffs on the practice platform as officers query him.
The officers gave O’Keefe a summons accusing him of disorderly conduct, then allowed him to board one other practice to his vacation spot, the MTA stated.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber was requested concerning the incident throughout a information convention on a special topic Monday. He stated it was a easy case of a passenger breaking the foundations by placing his legs on a seat.
“The police have to get involved because somebody won’t take his feet off the seat?” Lieber stated, later including, “Just take your feet off the seat. It’s that simple. And respect other passengers. But we’ll take a look at the video and deal with all the dramas that seem to come out of these simple interactions these days.”
O’Keefe, 31, gained a 2023 Writers Guild Award with different writers as “The Bear” was named finest comedy sequence.
O’Keefe stated in an electronic mail to The Related Press on Monday that he was working and wanted to run an interview request by his authorized staff. He added that he was “cautious of being the middle of a tradition conflict on this political local weather.”
