Long-time AC Transit director Joel Young subjected another director, Sarah Syed, to “unwanted physical contact” during a board meeting recess last year, an independent investigation has found.
The investigation was triggered by an anonymous complaint against Young, who is currently the transit agency board’s at-large member, about an incident that occurred on September 24, 2025, in the public board room at the agency’s headquarters in Oakland. The agenda that day included, among other board items, a remembrance of Director Christian Peeples, who had died a few weeks earlier.
The investigation was conducted by the Oakland law firm Meyers Nave and involved interviewing Syed and other witnesses and reviewing video, documents and agency policies. According to a December 17 letter addressed to Syed, the claim that she experienced unwanted physical contact was substantiated. The unwanted touching, according to the letter, violated the agency’s Board Policy No. 260, which prohibits gender-based harassment…