After police were caught on video reacting aggressively in two recent incidents in the subway, a group of activists and elected officials are asking Governor Cuomo not to go ahead with his plan to hire 500 new transit officers. 

The first incident happened last Friday at the Franklin Avenue subway station in Brooklyn.

The police thought a young man was armed and, guns out, they stormed into the subway car.

No weapon was found; the 19-year-old was charged with fare evasion.

"The minute the NYPD is told someone has a gun, the imperative is to make sure there's no danger to anyone," said Mayor de Blasio on Inside City Hall Monday night.

A day after the initial incident, the NYPD responded to a fight between two groups of young people at the Jay Street-MetroTech station in Brooklyn. An officer is seen punching a man in the face repeatedly in one video that was circulated online. The NYPD said that while the incident is reviewed, the officer involved won't be on patrol.

Activists and elected officials are questioning the way the police reacted.

"I think we are overreacting in these cases. And that's what happens when you have too many police officers that what they know how to do is enforce,” said Brooklyn Councilman Antonio Reynoso.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is also putting these incidents in a national context.

"I think there's something that happens in the psyche of a lot of folks when they see black and brown bodies that the response has to be extra," Williams said.

With all this in mind, Reynoso, Williams and others are also urging governor Cuomo not to add 500 new MTA officers to New York subways and buses, as he announced last summer after the MTA reported an increase in the number of fare beaters.

This added police presence is estimated to cost more than $600 million over the next ten years.

The mayor agrees with the governor.

"Clearly, it's a vast subway system and having additional officers is going to help people be safer," de Blasio said.

If Cuomo's plan goes ahead, State Senator Jessica Ramos just introduced legislation to make sure these state officers wear body cameras, like the NYPD already does.

"So this would make sure that, at the state level, these officers would be wearing body cams just like their above ground counterparts," said Ramos.