Author Alex O’Keefe, whom police detained final month in a viral seating dispute on a New York Metropolis prepare, is off the hook for alleged disorderly conduct.
A New York Metropolis administrative choose dismissed a civil summons towards former “The Bear” author O’Keefe on Tuesday, ending its case towards him. O’Keefe knowledgeable his Instagram followers that “the fees towards me had been dismissed” and “deemed by the choose facially inadequate.”
“That’s legal-ese for [‘BS’],” O’Keefe says within the video as he stands outdoors the courthouse. “They by no means had something on me … they had been attempting to make an instance of me.”
O’Keefe lawyer Lindsay Lewis mentioned in a Wednesday assertion that the author’s authorized workforce “commends the Court docket for reaching the one simply and proper consequence primarily based on the legislation — a whole dismissal of the case.”
Final month, O’Keefe uploaded movies of the Sept. 18 incident to Instagram. He documented MTA police in New York inserting him in handcuffs for alleged disorderly conduct. Within the caption of his submit, the speechwriter — who’s Black — alleged that officers detained him on a prepare after an “previous white lady” complained about how he was sitting. He claimed the lady took problem with the “one Black individual on the prepare.”
The MTA Police Division confirmed it responded to a “report of a disorderly passenger” on the Fordham Metro-North station within the Bronx. A conductor reported {that a} 31-year-old passenger occupied two seats and “refused to take away his ft from one of many seats.”
Police accused O’Keefe of inserting each his legs throughout an adjoining seat, violating the rail line’s guidelines. In addition they accused him of refusing police instructions to exit the prepare onto the platform and to board a following prepare. O’Keefe delayed service “for a number of hundred different riders for six minutes,” police alleged, and was handcuffed and faraway from the prepare.
In his Instagram submit in regards to the incident, O’Keefe alleged {that a} buddy of the lady who scolded his method of sitting advised him, “You’re not the minority anymore.” He added that police “arrested” him with out “even speaking to the Karen who reported the one Black individual on the prepare” and that solely different Black passengers recorded the dispute.
Police refuted that and mentioned O’Keefe “was not positioned beneath arrest at any time” throughout the incident.
O’Keefe doubled down on his earlier denials of wrongdoing in an announcement shared Tuesday, writing, “I used to be harassed and detained for sitting whereas Black.
“Right this moment, the court docket made a transparent judgement: I did nothing unlawful on September 18. Like thousands and thousands of New Yorkers, I used to be going to work to earn a residing and help my household,” he added. “Although this absurd case was dismissed at present, I’ll proceed to defend the civil rights of each New Yorker. Each employee has a proper to a secure commute.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
