Kyle Taylor, a school aide, had just stepped off the B14 bus in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on the morning of Oct. 6 when a group of transit workers wearing badges asked him if he had paid the $3 bus fare.
He did, Mr. Taylor said, but he could not show them because he had inserted his single-use, paper transfer into the farebox.
What followed, according to video reviewed by The New York Times, was a physical altercation in which four transit workers appeared to slam Mr. Taylor, 53, into the glass and metal partition of a bus shelter before wrestling him to the ground.
Minutes later, Mr. Taylor can be seen wobbling on a bus bench, then collapsing onto the pavement. He was later taken to a nearby hospital.
“I was pretty much out on my feet,” Mr. Taylor said in an interview on Wednesday. “When I looked at the video, I was like, I really don’t remember that part.”
Mr. Taylor, who is Black, is accusing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the city’s buses, of unfairly targeting people of color. He said he was preparing to sue.
His lawyer, Benjamin Pinczewski, compared the incident to the police search tactic known as stop and frisk, which was deemed unconstitutional because it led to racial profiling.
Mr. Pinczewski, who described himself as a short white man, said, “If I was getting off that bus, no one would have stopped me.”
The transit workers were not police officers, but inspectors with Evasion and Graffiti Lawlessness Eradication — a group of roughly 350 unarmed inspectors known as EAGLE who issue citations for fare evasion. They are hired by transit officials, but do not have the authority to arrest or detain passengers.
Sean Butler, a spokesman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said there was “no justification for excessive force on public transit or anywhere in New York State.” He said the governor expects the M.T.A. “to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure full accountability.”
Demetrius Crichlow, the president of New York City Transit, the division of the M.T.A. in charge of the inspectors, said in a statement that the four workers have been put on leave and the agency is working with the Police Department to investigate.
“It’s a concern that de-escalation is not apparent in that video, despite extensive training provided for all agents to avoid altercations,” he said.
The episode was captured on surveillance camera video recorded by a nearby deli, according to the Rev. Kevin McCall, a civil rights activist who obtained it.
Mr. Taylor was on his way to work around 6:35 a.m., just before dawn. He said he paid for the B15 bus with OMNY, the new digital payment system, and received a free, one-time-use paper transfer onto a second bus, the B14.
When EAGLE approached him after he got off, he said, he told them he did not have a receipt they could scan on their digital devices. (On Wednesday, Mr. Taylor provided a screenshot of a fare he paid that morning.)
It is not clear from the surveillance video what was said before the altercation. Mr. Taylor can be heard saying that a worker punched him. The police arrive and speak to Mr. Taylor, who looks dazed before falling to the ground. He lies there for several minutes, chest heaving, as officers mostly hover until an ambulance arrives.
“It’s horrendous that they do that to people,” Mr. Taylor said, referring to EAGLE, “that they’re able to put their hands on you for no reason.”
He said he still has pain in his neck, legs and arms, and has light sensitivity. Mr. Taylor said he has not returned to work and has trouble sleeping.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has promised to end such interactions by making the city’s bus service free, but has made little progress.
His spokesman Jeremy Edwards said in a statement: “This raises serious questions about the M.T.A.’s current strategy for collecting bus fares. No New Yorker should be concerned for their safety over three bucks.”
The M.T.A. began a version of EAGLE in 2008, but ramped up this year. Fare evasion on public buses has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic, with nearly half of the city’s 2.6 million daily bus riders skipping payment. That cost the M.T.A. $562 million last year, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group.
At a news conference on Thursday, Janno Lieber, the chief executive of the M.T.A., said the agency does not support free bus service. “The fact that there was an unfortunate physical conflict between a customer and some M.T.A. officials doesn’t mean you get rid of fare payment,” he said.
Danny Pearlstein, the policy director for Riders Alliance, a transportation advocacy group, called video of the altercation “horrific.”
“When riders have to fear for their safety at the hands of M.T.A.’s EAGLE teams, something needs to change — and fast,” he said.
Mr. Taylor, despite being a longtime bus rider with few other options to get to work, said he has no plans to get back on board.
“I don’t believe it’s a safe place for me,” he said.
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