Alex O'Keefe, a former writer for hit FX show "The Bear," was handcuffed and detained while traveling on a Metro-North train from New York City to Connecticut, an MTA spokesperson confirmed.

O'Keefe, 31, who worked on both "The Bear" and "Shrill," first shared the incident on social media, posting a series of videos and photos to Instagram chronicling the detainment.

"I was arrested on the @MTA train to Connecticut today, pulled off, handcuffed, and detained," he wrote. "An old white woman got on the train and immediately pointed at me and told me to correct how I was sitting. I refused so she went to the conductor and complained."

"The conductor called the police and stopped the train. While waiting for the police to arrive, the old Karen's friend said, 'You're not the minority anymore.' The police told me to leave the train, I refused and asked what was I doing illegally. They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train," he continued, attaching a photo of both the woman and the male friend to the carousel.

"On the platform, the police detained me and interrogated me," O'Keefe wrote, adding, "Only black folks stayed nearby and recorded the arrest. When I demanded a lawyer and reminded them they didn't even take a statement from the woman who complained, they eventually released me. This country is growing more psycho by the day. What will you do about it?"

In a statement to USA TODAY Sept. 23, confirming the incident but denying the arrest, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it responded to a report of a "disorderly passenger" who was "occupying two seats" and "had refused to remove his feet from one of the seats."

"Investigation, enhanced by body-worn cameras and on-board security camera video, revealed that a 31-year-old male was observed with both legs stretched across an adjacent seat," the transit organization's statement said, adding that the officer told him to exit to the platform, where he would be allowed to board the next train.

"When he continued to refuse to exit, delaying service for several hundred other riders for six minutes, the passenger involved was handcuffed and removed from the train," the MTA said, adding O'Keefe was issued a summons for disorderly conduct before being released to board the next train.

In an email to USA TODAY Sept. 23, O'Keefe said that the MTA/Metro-North Railroad Equal Opportunity had sent him a letter voicing "regret" over the incident.

In his own statement, he said: "The last thing any Black man wants is a viral arrest video. I worked my entire life in politics and culture to be treated with respect, and to make our country a better place. But my accomplishments and awards cannot protect me from the violence we’ve all normalized. American life is full of brutal irony."He continued: "Let’s be honest, a 31-year old white man in business casual would never be violently pulled off a train and detained because one customer deemed their sitting 'disrespectful.' Sitting while Black is not illegal. The MTA code of conduct does not mandate any standard way of sitting. Unlawful sitting is not real. This incident was a series of power trips, white authority figures flexing their dominance over a Black man. The MTA allowed a debate about my posture spiral into a dangerous interaction with police."

O'Keefe alleged "police failed to take a statement from anyone before removing the only black male customer from a train car headed to Connecticut."

"They threatened to bring me to jail and searched for pretext to further escalate the situation," he added. "I was not just treated as a guilty man, I was treated as a violent man. In truth, it's people like me who make America great. I am grateful for the overwhelming love and solidarity I have received. Every worker deserves a peaceful commute to work. I hope by sharing my story, New York becomes a safer city for all."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former 'The Bear' writer Alex O'Keefe claims wrongful detainment on MTA train

Reporting by Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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