A Queens man was arrested for tampering with subway security cameras along the F line, the Daily News has learned.
Cops nabbed Sebastian Mendez Thursday night — hours before his 28th birthday — on the mezzanine level of the Parsons Blvd. station for allegedly covering at least 17 subway security cameras with black tape along the Queens Boulevard Line in Jamaica.
Mendez told the officers he didn’t mind cameras in general, a law enforcement source told The News — he just doesn’t like the ones that are hidden. Mendez told officers he didn’t like people watching him.
Cops said the man’s antics had blocked their view of a felony earlier this week, when a 17-year-old was stabbed on the Parsons Blvd. platform Tuesday morning. No arrests have been made, and the victim is expected to survive.
Mendez apparently looked into the cameras while taping them up, allowing cops to ID him, according to a transit source.
The Queens man has had a long-running beef with the MTA’s surveillance system.
In April last year, cops say Mendez knocked out 21 cameras along the F line in Jamaica, grabbing and breaking three cameras at the Parsons Blvd. station, 10 at the Sutphin Blvd. station, and eight at the 169th St. station.
A month later, he destroyed another two cameras a the Sutphin Blvd., and two more at the Parsons Blvd. station, police said.
Mendez was also caught on camera in those instances.
He pleaded guilty to charges of fourth degree criminal mischief, and was sentenced in October to less than a year in prison.
New York City Transit president Rich Davey said in a statement Friday that the security camera network was a crucial part of keeping New Yorkers safe.
“Anybody who thinks they’re going to undermine the safety of subway riders — capture of a suspect in at least one crime was delayed by a covered camera — should think again,” he said.
“The cameras don’t blink,” Davey added, “and idiots like this are going to get locked up.”
