It took six undercover cops 15 minutes to restrain a single fare-dodger at New York’s busiest station, demonstrating how difficult it is to address the MTA’s crisis.
The Post observed at the Times Square station as the man refused to offer identification and exclaimed, “Bruh! Bruh! “You can’t do this to me, no!” he said in front of commuters before dropping to his knees, causing cops to arrest him and eventually haul him to the precinct as he continued to shout.
The suspect had a bench warrant for criminal possession of stolen items and acted so strangely that police took him to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation.
And in the 15 minutes it took the entire squad to deal with him, The Post witnessed fare-beater after fare-beater leap the turnstile or stroll through the open emergency door at the Times Square station’s only entrance.
The show occurred hours before a subway fare-breaker used Mace on two NYPD cops at the East 116th Street station.
As part of a fare-beating campaign to apprehend violent criminals and repeat offenders, NYPD plainclothes transit cops deployed for two hours at Times Square, issuing 10 summonses and arresting three people for theft of service.
“I wish we could stop everyone, but we can’t, so we conduct these targeted operations at stations where there are complaints or high crime to get recidivists off the street, even if only for a day,” Inspector Jonathan Bobin, commanding officer of the Transit Bureau’s Special Operations Division, told The Post.
“When you’re a paying client, you notice other people not paying. “It is one of the factors that might contribute to a perception of disarray in the subway system.”
The Post has learned that Eric Harvey is currently the most prolific criminal on the subway.
He was the most serious transit offender last year and has over 200 arrests in his life, all for tampering with MetroCard vending machines or selling swipes for cash.
However, the most recent MTA data show that fare-beating in the subway and on buses cost passengers an eye-watering $690 million last year.
Between July and September last year, an estimated 14% of subway riders jumped the turnstiles, the highest amount recorded in the five years of MTA statistics available online.
In the third quarter of 2023, 41% of bus users commuted without paying.
Bobin stated that his teams make hundreds of arrests and issue thousands of summonses to some of the worst subway cheaters each year.
The fee-beater evasion team fines anyone between $50 and $100 for not paying the $2.90 price.
They carry bodycams under their jackets and display their shields to many of the individuals they catch who do not think they are officers.
“The goal is not necessarily making arrests; it’s to correct behavior,” Bobin went on to say.
In reality, transit officers allowed two different groups of visitors, one Haitian and one French, who appeared confused by their surroundings to continue on their route once they confirmed they had not purposefully entered the emergency gate without payment.
“We’re out here, doing our jobs, and stopping a large number of people,” Sgt. Fernando Cordero, who was in charge of one of the squads on Tuesday, told The Post.
“It may seem like we’re up against big odds, but we’re here; we’re a real presence, and the average person who gets caught is usually too embarrassed to do it again.”
Last week, Dajuan Robinson, 36, allegedly started a violent rush-hour fight on an A train approaching Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn, which led to his own gunshot. This incident dramatically highlighted the link between fare evasion and crime.
Two undercover transit officers from Tuesday’s Times Square deployment were at the station when the event occurred, and one had to perform CPR on Robinson.
“It was a crazy situation, no doubt about it,” the officer said to The Post. “I hadn’t quite seen anything like that, but it’s the type of thing we face every day.”
However, when it comes to the 1,200 specialist transit cops, officers say it’s simply not a fair fight as they strive to stop fare-beating at 472 stations across the city’s 24 lines.
Transit cops are being supplemented by 1,000 regular NYPD officers in a “policing surge” during peak times, while Gov. Kathy Hochul has ordered 1,000 more state troopers, National Guard soldiers, and MTA officers—wwho typically patrol the Metro North and LIRR networks—tto conduct bag checks on the subway.
However, a source familiar with subway policing claims that the police presence is still insignificant.
“They just aren’t going to be able to patrol a system that big to any real degree of satisfaction even with the surge policing,” a source familiar with the matter said.
“As we witnessed last year, more police presence on the subways reduces crime. But it is simply not sustainable to rely on overtime to provide that presence,” said Patrick Hendry, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the union that represents the municipal police officers.
“There just aren’t enough cops, period.”
