The MTA has removed four fare checkers involved in a violent incident in Brooklyn from their duties pending an investigation into how an effort to check on potential fare evasion turned into a physical clash, transit officials said Thursday.
“[NYC Transit President] Demetrius [Crichlow] and the team at Transit have elected to put those inspectors on the bench,” MTA chariman Janno Lieber told reporters. “They’re out of service, pending the investigation.”
Lieber said that he had reviewed the surveillance footage — first reported by the Daily News — showing members of the MTA’s Evasion and Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication (EAGLE) team pressing Brooklyn school aide Kyle Taylor up against a bus-stop shelter following a fare dispute that had turned physical.
“We are concerned about some of what we saw,” Lieber said.
The four fare-checkers will remain on the MTA’s payroll while the agency investigates, but are on modified duty and will not be checking fares, a spokesman for the agency told The News.
Taylor had been confronted by members of the team as he was getting off a B14 bus at Pitkin and Rockaway Aves. in Brownsville by agents charged with stopping rampant fare evasion on NYC buses, Taylor told the Daily News that the team asked him how he had paid his fare. When he said that it wouldn’t show up since he’d made a free transfer from a B15 bus, Taylor said the fare inspectors asked him for his ID. He refused.
“One of them said, ‘Give me your ID,’” Taylor said. “I said ‘I paid my fare. Why do you want my ID? Can I please get off the bus?’
They said, ‘You’re not getting off this bus.’”
Taylor said he then tried to “squeeze” past the agents and a physical clash ensued.
Surveillance footage from a nearby deli shows Taylor was then pinned against the outside of the bus and against the bus stop shelter by multiple EAGLE team members. One member of the team can be heard telling Taylor “You can not push an officer,” to which Taylor responds, “You’re not an officer.”
Comprised of unarmed transit employees, the MTA’s EAGLE teams have been tasked with combating fare evasion on the agency’s bus system, Since the switch to tap-to-pay fares on city buses, the EAGLE teams have been equipped with hand-held readers designed to verify that a debit card, credit card, OMNY card or phone has in fact been used to pay for the bus. Nearly half of the city’s bus riders don’t pay their fare, according to MTA data.
While members of the EAGLE teams are allowed to issue tickets for fare evasion, they are not members of the MTA’s police department, nor are they recognized by the state as peace officers. The video shows Taylor and a few of the EAGLE team members struggle at the bus shelter before falling to the ground.
“It is our expectation that we should be able to deal with our customers in a respectful manner,” Crichlow said Thursday.
“This is not indicative of the level of professionalism that we see or expect from our employees,” he said. “We train them specifically on how to engage with customers, conflict resolution, how to de-escalate situations — and so it is unfortunate that this situation wound up escalating.”
The NYPD arrived at the scene but filed no charges.
Taylor’s lawyer, Benjamin Pinczewski, told The News that the MTA should disband the EAGLE teams following the incident.
“While we are pleased to see [Lieber] is taking the matter seriously and has removed the four Eagle team members from active duty we demand they be terminated along with the entire unit,” Pinczewski said. “People who must use and rely on the MTA buses cannot be subjected to this kind of abuse harassment and trauma.”
Lieber said that the MTA was working with the NYPD to determine how the fare enforcement stop turned physical.
“They’re given a lot of training, especially in de-escalation — to avoid physicality,” Lieber said.
“There’s apparently a disagreement about how the physical stuff started. We don’t know, that’s why we’re investigating,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mayor Mamdani — who was elected in part on a promise of fare-free buses — encouraged the MTA’s investigation, and said the issue raised “serious questions” about the EAGLE teams.
“While the City does not oversee MTA Eagle teams, we take any accusation of excessive force seriously and we strongly encourage the MTA to investigate this incident thoroughly,” Jeremy Edwards said in a statement. “This raises serious questions about the MTA’s current strategy for collecting bus fares—no New Yorker should be concerned for their safety over three bucks.”
Hochul spokesman Sean Butler said “there is no justification for excessive force on public transit or anywhere in New York State. The Governor has made it clear that she expects the MTA to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure full accountability.”
This story has been updated to correct the current employment status of the fare-checkers. They remain on the agency payroll but have been pulled from checking fares.
with Rocco Parascandola
