Two masked vandals damaged a Brooklyn subway station last week, destroying seven OMNY payment readers in an apparent protest over the manufacturer’s alleged ties to the Israeli military.
According to video footage and the NYPD, one vandal wearing a flannel shirt used a drill and another tool to smash the tap-to-pay machines at the Church Avenue station, which serves the B and Q lines, at about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday.
A second person dressed entirely in black stood on a folding chair and painted over surveillance cameras mounted on the station ceiling, the footage showed. The video was posted on X by far-left activist Calla Walsh.
Authorities and law enforcement sources said the attack destroyed seven OMNY readers and covered approximately four security cameras with paint.
Each damaged reader was valued at about $2,600, putting the total estimated cost at $18,200, the sources said.
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The video of the lunchtime vandalism carries the all-caps message: “OMNY SURVEILS, FIGHT BACK.”
The vandals also left two leaflets at the station. One accused the OMNY system of monitoring riders’ movements and gathering their personal information.
“LIVE FREE, RIDE FREE, F–K THE NYPD,” the flyer stated.
The second leaflet criticized the OMNY parent company over its alleged connections to the Israeli military.
“Every time you tap, you send money to a war profiteer,” it said. “STOP THE GENOCIDE. FREE PALESTINE.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Tuesday that the damaged readers had been repaired shortly after the incident.
Police said no arrests had been made.