Many cities and counties in the US are at heightened anxiety these days, especially in the presence of law enforcement officers, thanks to ICE’s actions. One such case in the New York City subway train has even sparked a rather viral debate and troubling speculations online because what appears to be a badged man in civilian clothes is trying to ‘kidnap’ a Spanish-speaking passenger.
You can see the man with the green hooded sweater wearing a bodycam and a badge, trying to take a Spanish-speaking man with him for an unknown reason. The other people on the train, however, were trying to de-escalate the situation and prevent the man from taking the Spanish-speaker away. When asked who he was and whether he was with ICE, he simply answered that he wasn’t. Still, he also refused to identify himself.
Thankfully, the Spanish-speaker got lucky as the badged man settled for him sitting down on the train instead of taking him away. People in the CringeTikTok subreddit, however, were paranoid, with many wondering what exactly the badged man was doing and why he also refused to identify himself. Hence, many people online assumed he was doing something similar to what ICE agents do.
“Where’s his radio? Looks to me a guy with a badge and body cam and no actual evidence he is law enforcement. I would refuse until a uniformed officer comes,” according to a Reddit commenter in the thread. “So are they ICE or just some random security?” asked another. Some were even starting to question just how confusing it can be these days because of ICE’s activities, “A formula for disaster – how do we know who’s who any more??”
New Yorkers Have a Different Take
With many assuming he was ICE or someone similar, the New Yorkers on the train earned praise for supposedly fighting against the “attempt” to “kidnap” with one commenter saying, “I love that New Yorkers on the subway don’t fall his him being a fake cop and call him out. Good job, NYC!”
The video, however, found itself on the NYC subreddit, and New Yorkers (or people online who claim to be New Yorkers) appear to be confident that the badged man is a plainclothes NYPD officer, as denoted by his badge. Apparently, they also patrol subway trains and try to prevent crimes and identify people who may have committed infractions, particularly those caused by substances.
“That guy is NYPD undercover. You can tell by the stance, he’s not masked and how he’s handling himself. It’s telltale and he has the shield on him. What the F he was doing, who knows, but that’s definitely a city cop. ICE goons have the dear in the headlights look because they’re fuckin’ yokels from elsewhere that are scared of municipalities with more than 10K people in them,” explains a New Yorker.
Another person corrected them, saying that “he “He isn’t undercover, he is plain clothes. Very big difference. Undercover cops don’t look like cops nor do they carry body cams.” It’s still not clear who the man was, as he didn’t identify himself, but some New Yorkers have advised other people in the US to stop jumping to conclusions: “These are Plain Clothes NYPD, stop saying everyone is a Nazi, let alone seeing a video from only one perspective.”