{"id":374178,"date":"2026-10-15T20:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T20:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/374178\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T20:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T20:26:09","slug":"mta-grounds-4-bus-fare-enforcement-agents-amid-probe-into-physical-altercation-with-rider-in-brooklyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/374178\/","title":{"rendered":"MTA grounds 4 bus fare enforcement agents amid probe into physical altercation with rider in Brooklyn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The MTA has removed from service four bus fare enforcement agents<\/a> who were involved in a \u201cphysical altercation\u201d with a Brooklyn public school dean last week, agency brass announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber revealed on Oct. 15 that the enforcement agents, who are members of one of the agency\u2019s Evasion and Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication (EAGLE)<\/a> teams, have been taken off the job pending an investigation into the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the video, and there were aspects of it that were concerning,\u201d Lieber said, referring to a video of the confrontation taken by a nearby store\u2019s security camera, shared with amNewYork. \u201cWe never want, you know, our folks to be in physical altercations with customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rider, Kyle Taylor, was reportedly on his way<\/a> to the school where he works in Brownsville, Brooklyn \u2014 Mott Bridges Academy \u2014 early last Tuesday morning, when the incident unfolded on the B14 bus.<\/p>\n

In the video, Taylor can be seen trying to exit the bus, when two EAGLE team members block his path and pin him against the vehicle. Two more fare agents then exit the bus and three of them get into a physical struggle with Taylor, before pushing him against a nearby bus shelter.<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s attorney, Benjamin Pinczewsk, said the agents then punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground. The NYPD then arrived and called an ambulance for Taylor.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe suffered a concussion, head, neck, back, left shoulder injury, and bruised and swelled cheekbone from being punched in face,\u201d Pinczewsk told amNewYork in a text message. \u201cHe is currently receiving treatment and is unable to resume work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor reportedly plans to sue the MTA.\n<\/p>\n

Taylor paid his fare with his debit card on the B15 bus where he began his journey and used a paper transfer to board the B14 bus where he was stopped, according to Pinczewsk and published reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fare agents asked him to show proof of payment, and he told them his debit card tap would only show up for the first bus he took. They then requested he present his ID and he declined, opting to exit the bus instead. The clash ensued.<\/p>\n

MTA officials confirmed that all four fare agents shown in the video were removed from service.\n<\/p>\n

\u2018Not indicative\u2019 of EAGLE team\u2019s \u2018level of professionalism\u2019: MTA boss<\/p>\n

Lieber said that it is \u201cright\u201d that NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow decided to bench the involved EAGLE Team members while the investigation plays out. Crichlow said the clash was not representative of how EAGLE teams operate across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not indicative of the level of professionalism that we see or expect for our employees,\u201d he said. \u201cWe train them specifically on how to engage with customers, conflict resolution, and\u00a0how to de-escalate situations. And\u00a0so it is unfortunate that this situation wound up escalating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lieber said that although he could not provide an update on the investigation, the MTA is working very closely with the NYPD.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with them to try to figure out what happened, how this got physical,\u201d Lieber said, while also noting that the cops have \u201celected\u201d not to make arrests or file charges against the fare agents.<\/p>\n

The MTA has greatly expanded the EAGLE teams\u2019 presence<\/a> across city buses as it seeks to crack down on fare evasion on that mode of transit, which the agency says costs it over $300 million in annual revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the MTA fully switched to its OMNY tap-and-pay system at the start of the year, the unarmed fare agents have been equipped with handheld devices<\/a> for verifying riders\u2019 payments via credit\/debit card, OMNY card, or smartphone. They are then empowered to issue summonses to those found to have skipped the fare.<\/p>\n

The confrontation drew sharp criticism from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned last year on making city buses free.\n<\/p>\n

Hizzoner\u2019s spokesperson, Jeremy Edwards, said in a statement that while the city does not oversee EAGLE teams, \u201cwe take any accusation of excessive force seriously and we strongly encourage the MTA to investigate this incident thoroughly.\u201d \u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cThis raises serious questions about the MTA\u2019s current strategy for collecting bus fares\u2014no New Yorker should be concerned for their safety over three bucks,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n

Lieber responded that one incident should not be grounds for eliminating the fare on city buses.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that there was an unfortunate physical conflict between a customer and some MTA officials doesn\u2019t mean you get rid of fare payment,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it really answers the question of whether there ought to be a free bus system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The MTA has removed from service four bus fare enforcement agents who were involved in a \u201cphysical altercation\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[137711,137712,8793,31846,137713,9760,137714,22925,141,31847,9,56,63,65,64,1210,103,613],"class_list":["post-374178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-benjamin-pinczewsk","tag-bus-fare-enforcement","tag-demetrius-crichlow","tag-eagle-teams","tag-fare-agents","tag-fare-evasion","tag-kyle-taylor","tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","tag-mta","tag-mta-chair-and-ceo-janno-lieber","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nyc-transit","tag-nypd","tag-pm-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}