MTA pulls all EAGLE bus fare enforcement teams off the street after a second use-of-force case surfaces

Update: dean files $25 million claim

Kyle Taylor, the Brooklyn school dean in the B14 video, has filed a $25 million notice of claim against the MTA and New York City Transit, the first step toward a lawsuit, CBS New York and NY1 reported. Taylor, 53, appeared outside MTA headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn with his arm in a sling. "Every day I'm in pain. I just want justice," he said, according to NY1.

His lawyer, Wayne Wattley, told CBS that Taylor paid his fare and had a paper transfer, which stays with the bus, so he could not show it when agents demanded proof. The Rev. Kevin McCall, who joined Taylor, said his office had received more than 50 videos of EAGLE agents harassing riders since the B14 video came out, CBS reported.

NY1 reported that surveillance video of the second, months-old incident Lieber referred to has now been posted on social media. There are about 350 unarmed EAGLE agents, and the MTA has given no timeline for its review or for the teams' return, according to NY1. The rider group Passengers United told CBS that agents should come back only with body cameras and better customer-service training.

The stand-down

The MTA has taken its EAGLE bus fare enforcement teams off the street, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber announced Thursday, after a video of agents roughing up a Brooklyn school dean and the discovery of a second, older incident, Gothamist and ABC7 reported.

"I'm ordering an immediate safety stand-down until these investigations conclude," Lieber said at a news conference, according to Gothamist. He told ABC7 the teams "will not be reentering the field" until he is confident their training and reporting protocols meet the agency's standards, and said he is "concerned about the pattern."

Two incidents, and a reporting problem

The first case is this month's confrontation on the B14 in Brownsville, which we reported last week. Video showed agents pinning Mott Bridges Academy dean Kyle Taylor against a bus and slamming him to the ground after asking whether he had paid, Gothamist reported. Taylor says he paid on another bus and had a transfer ticket, and he suffered injuries to his back, neck, shoulder, arm and elbow. ABC7 reported that the dean was punched and lost consciousness. The MTA had already suspended the agents involved.

Gothamist reported that an EAGLE officer filed paperwork saying Taylor "fell out of the bus" and refused medical attention, an account contradicted by the footage. Lieber said he was unhappy that MTA and New York City Transit leaders did not hear about the episode until more than a week later.

He gave few details about the second incident but said it was several months old and raised the same concerns about whether agents gave supervisors timely, accurate information. "The incident that's come to attention is now several months old and it didn't come up," Lieber said, according to Gothamist.

What EAGLE teams do

EAGLE agents are civilian MTA employees, not police officers. They board buses, check that riders have paid and write fines to people who haven't. Lieber has called them critical to cutting fare evasion on buses, where MTA figures show as many as half of riders skip the $3 fare. He did not give a date for the teams to return. "We're going to take a break, and take another look and we'll be back when we've completed that," he said.