Onetime writer for FX's 'The Bear' taken off NYC train in handcuffs

A onetime writer for FX's hit show "The Bear" was taken off a New York City commuter train in handcuffs in a dispute over how he was sitting — an incident he recorded in a video shared widely on social media

A onetime writer for FX's hit show "The Bear" was taken off a New York City commuter train in handcuffs in a dispute over how he was sitting — an incident he recorded in a video shared widely on social media.

Alex O'Keefe, who is Black, said in an Instagram post that he was headed to Connecticut on a Metro-North train Thursday when he was removed by police after a white woman complained to a conductor about the way he was sitting.

Responding to questions about O'Keefe's video, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said security video showed he had been sitting with both legs stretched across an adjacent seat — a violation of the rail line's rules. The MTA said a conductor called police after the passenger refused to move his legs.

Police briefly held the train at a station in the Bronx around 10:30 a.m. The MTA said officers handcuffed O'Keefe after he refused to exit the train. O'Keefe recorded part of the interaction.

"You're going to arrest the one Black dude on the train, because this white woman said she didn't like the way I was sitting on the train," O'Keefe tells officers in the video as he points to the woman. He then says three times that he didn't do anything illegal. An officer then begins to put handcuffs on O'Keefe and another tells him to stop resisting.