Improperly Detained Over Train Photos, Station Agent Sues

A New York City Transit Station Agent is suing the city for an incident in February when Transit Police Officers arrested him and confined him in a holding area for three hours for taking photos of a train on an elevated station platform in The Bronx.

Robert Taylor, whom his lawyer described as a train and photography enthusiast, was told by a transit cop at the Freeman St. station on the 2 line that he had to erase a photo he took of a train that had just passed. Mr. Taylor showed them his transit identification card and explained that he should only be barred from taking photos if he had been using a tripod, and he offered to pull up Metropolitan Transportation Authority rules on the subject on his BlackBerry, he claims.

Arrested Anyway

Joined by several other officers, the cop arrested Mr. Taylor as he was trying to board the next train, according to Gerald Cohen, Mr. Taylor's attorney, and was charged with wrongfully taking photos of a train, raising his voice at the officers and blocking passengers from the train, all of which were dismissed.

"They were not listening to him," he said. "They were saying 'Our rules are different from your rules.' The case was dismissed before he even had to appear at a court. He was detained for not doing anything wrong. They kept him [in jail] for like two to three hours. It was humiliating, for no reason."

Mr. Taylor is seeking $2 million in damages.

In February, Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne told the New York Times, "[The] officers misinterpreted the rules concerning photography."