‘The Bear’ Writer Detained After Train Passenger Complained About How He Was Sitting

A former writer for The Bear was handcuffed and removed from a New York City Metro-North train on Thursday, Sept. 18, an MTA representative told PEOPLE.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Alex O’Keefe said he was put in handcuffs and removed from the train to Connecticut after a White woman complained to a conductor about the way O’Keefe, a Black man, was sitting.

O’Keefe, 31, recorded the interaction as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police took his wrists and put him in handcuffs. The MTA representative told PEOPLE he was not arrested.

“I am the one Black dude on the train,” O’Keefe 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.” 

“I haven’t done anything illegal,” O’Keefe said several times.

As O’Keefe was taken into custody, another officer told him he was resisting arrest. He then asked what they were arresting him for, and they told him “disorderly conduct.”

O’Keefe’s Instagram post also included a photo of the woman he alleges made the complaint, as well as a nearby passenger. The post concluded with a video of handcuffed O’Keefe facing a wall on a Bronx train platform as four officers write up the incident. 

The MTA said that the way O’Keefe was sitting was breaking an MTA rule because he had both of his legs stretched across an adjacent seat, which was documented by on-board security camera video, per the MTA statement.

Per the MTA statement, the incident first occurred around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18. The MTA police officers responded to a report that there was a “disorderly passenger” on a train from Grand Central Terminal in New York City to New Haven, Conn.

“A conductor reported a passenger occupying two seats had refused to remove his feet from one of the seats,” per the MTA statement. “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.”

The MTA said he “continued to refuse to exit” and train was delayed for an additional six minutes. 

Around 10:50, O’Keefe was issued a summons for disorderly conduct, a violation, without further incident. He was then allowed to board the next train.

On Monday, Sept. 22, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber addressed the incident during a news conference about a different topic.

“If you’re putting your feet on the seats, you’re breaking the rules of our commuter railroad and of the subways of the whole MTA,” Lieber said.

Lieber said he hasn’t seen the video, but “the bottom line is, he shouldn’t have delayed the train by arguing with everybody for a long time.”

“The police have to get involved because somebody won’t take his feet off the seat? Just take your feet off the seat. It’s that simple. And respect other passengers,” Lieber said, adding, “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.”

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O’Keefe did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Monday. O’Keefe worked on The Bear‘s first season in 2022.