MTA investigates alleged racial profi ling
COURIER LIFE, JANUARY 15-21, 2021 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
On Dec. 27, six teenagers
from Coney Island traveled to
Bensonhurst to have dinner at
Burger King, using a gift card
two of them had been awarded
for their volunteer work. The
free food capped off a fun day
of basketball and tag, but once
they entered the Bay Parkway
subway station to head home,
their day soured.
Inside the 86th Street station,
the MTA attendant announced
over the loud speaker
that he needed police backup,
according to 15-year-old Sincere
Quinones.
“Us being worried and nervous
about what could possibly
happen, we asked him, ‘What
happened, sir?’ And he said,
‘The cops are coming for you
guys,'” Quinones said at a Jan.
11 press conference outside the
station. “We said, ‘Why?’ He
said, ‘Because you guys were
going’ — key word, ‘were going,’
— ‘to jump the turnstile.'”
The boys — who are between
the ages of 12 and 17 and
either Black or Latino — began
arguing with the middle-aged
attendant and insisted that
they had money to pay for their
fares, Quinones said. In a video
recorded by one of the boys, the
teenagers can be heard saying,
“We got money, we have
money.” Though the MTA
worker can’t be heard, one boy
shouts at him, “How did we assault
you?” and the attendant
mouths, “With your phone.”
The attendant then reportedly
said, “All you guys can go,
except for chino over there,”
referring to 17-year-old Miguel
Navarro, said Quinones.
The boys were eventually
allowed through, but they returned
to Bay Parkway after realizing
their train wasn’t running
to Coney Island. While
they were boarding a Coney Island
bound bus near the station,
the responding offi cers stopped
them and questioned them,
Quinones said. The cops let the
teens off the hook, but told them
to “stay out of trouble.”
The incident comes as racial
profi ling has taken center
stage in the national conversation
about race and white entitlement.
A white lawyer, Amy
Cooper, made headlines in
June for calling the cops on a
Black bird watcher in Central
Park after he asked her to put
her dog on a leash. More recently,
22-year-old Miya Ponsetto
attacked a 14-year-old
Black boy who she wrongfully
assumed had stolen her phone.
The incidents have spurred
the New York State Assembly
to revisit a 2018 bill introduced
by former Sunset Park
Assemblyman Félix Ortiz that
would make falsely calling the
police a potential hate crime.
The bill, which Gov. Andrew
Cuomo voiced support for, has
not yet come for a vote.
On Monday, Assemblywoman
Mathylde Frontus tied
the viral videos of racial profi
ling to the Bay Parkway incident,
which she said had the
potential for violence.
“Every time you make an
assumption and you profi le
someone, you are one step
closer to harming that person
because it never ends well,”
she said. “Because if I look at
you and I assume that you’re a
criminal, I become afraid and
I end up acting out of fear.”
Frontus explained she
had given the Burger King
gift cards to two of the boys
at a dinner event in December,
where fi ve of the six boys
had been in attendance. The
dinner honored the teens for
helping their neighbor, Luz
Lozada, deliver food to the
homeless every Christmas.
Behind the speakers stood
the boys — Quinones, Navarro,
16-year-old twins Justin
and Jaleel Ubiles, 16-year-old
Kawan Serrano, and 12-yearold
Joaquine Knight.
Frontus, who alerted the
MTA to the issue after Victor
Quinones relayed the story to
her, said that the boys will fi ll
out MTA complaints and each
plan to fi le a Title XI complaint
alleging discrimination.
According to the MTA, the
station attendant had been
working with the transportation
authority for about a year
and a half and has no prior disciplinary
history. The agency
is investigating the incident
and is developing a training
course for employees about
bias, a spokesman said.
“We are investigating this
incident fully, and have been
doing so since it was brought
to our attention,” said Aaron
Donovan. “Even prior to concluding
our investigation, we
have decided to use this situation
as a teaching moment for
all of our customer-facing personnel,
by developing both refresher
and new training content
around bias.”
The employee will not be subject
to discipline until the investigation
is complete, he said.
Six boys who say they were racially profi led by an MTA worker stand with
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus (left) and friends. Photo by Rose Adams
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