Masked pair smash seven OMNY readers at Brooklyn station

Masked individuals damaged seven OMNY fare readers at the Church Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, prompting an investigation that had resulted in no arrests, police told the New York Daily News. A transit worker found the damaged equipment before 11:30 a.m. last Wednesday, according to police accounts cited by the New York Daily News, Patch and the New York Post. Police put the cost of replacing the seven readers at $18,851, a figure reported by the New York Daily News and Patch. The New York Post instead cited law enforcement sources who valued the machines at $18,200 in total, or about $2,600 each. The MTA said the readers had been repaired shortly after the incident, according to the New York Post. The accounts describe two masked people and damage to the fare equipment, while the New York Daily News also reported that a person in black spray-painted station security cameras. The New York Post said a second person painted cameras and described the damage as affecting about four cameras. Patch reported that the two individuals used a drill and physically smashed the readers; the New York Post also described one person using a drill and another tool. The Daily News and the Post said footage showed activity at the station, while the Post identified a video posted on X by activist Calla Walsh. Leaflets left at the station focused on surveillance and OMNY’s handling of personal information. One warned riders, “You are being watched,” and said the fare system could collect names, ages and photographs, according to the Daily News and Patch. The New York Post reported that two leaflets accused OMNY of tracking riders’ travel and collecting personal information. The Post also quoted a flyer saying, “Every time you tap, you send money to a war profiteer.”

The coverage linked the protest message to claims about Cubic’s business. Patch said a second leaflet accused Cubic of doing business with the Israeli military, while the New York Post described the vandalism as a protest over the payment-reader maker’s alleged ties to the IDF. VINnews’s headline likewise characterized the destruction as connected to alleged IDF ties. These are reported allegations and characterizations; the coverage does not supply a company response. The surveillance concern has a documented technical basis in a 2019 report by the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. Patch reported that the study warned the MTA and its contractor, Cubic, could track riders’ movements by linking payment records with the time and location of fare transactions. That concern differs from proof that the system collected or used the specific personal information listed in the leaflets. The accounts identify distinct consequences: damage to seven fare readers, camera paint reported by the Daily News and Post, and repair of the readers reported by the Post. Police said the investigation was ongoing and no arrests had been made. The New York Daily News and Patch reported a replacement estimate of $18,851, while the Post’s sources gave a lower total valuation; the coverage does not reconcile those figures.