James Blake was slammed to the ground and handcuffed as he left his New York hotel on Wednesday by plain-clothed police officers who mistook him for an identity theft criminal.
Blake was leaving the Grand Hyatt on 42nd Street in New York and heading to the US Open when a plainclothes officer charged at him and tackled him to the ground. Soon thereafter, four other undercover officers had the former American tennis star surrounded. Blake was handcuffed by the first officer.
“It was definitely scary and definitely crazy,” Blake said via the New York Daily News.
The Daily News reports that Blake suffered cuts and bruises as a result of being tackled. He was held in handcuffs for about 15 minutes before being let go. The fifth officer apologized to Blake for the error. They had been looking for a person whom they believed had been operating in credit card fraud in the area.
The NY Post says individuals had purchased cell phones with fraudulent credit cards.
A delivery was made to the hotel Tuesday for three cell phones purchased with a phony credit card, sources said. When the cell phone company realized the credit card was fake they notified authorities.
Blake told the Daily News he wants an apology from the police and that he wants to bring light to what happened so officers do not use excessive force in the future. He was also asked if he thought the matter was race-related.
“I don’t know if it’s as simple as that,” Blake said. “To me it’s as simple as unnecessary police force, no matter what my race is. In my mind there’s probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there’s no reason for anybody to do that to anybody.”
The NY Post makes it sound like it wasn’t race related. A source told them a delivery man had identified two people, one of whom was Blake. The delivery man identified the people as ones who bought cell phones from him using fraudulent credit cards.
An NYPD spokesperson tells TMZ that they are investigating.
“In regards to the alleged improper use of force, the Police Commissioner directed the internal affairs bureau to investigate.”
Blake’s reaction is completely reasonable for someone who was mistakenly arrested and detained. Obviously the police were looking to serve and protect the community; they just misidentified Blake. Blake seems to get that, he just figures excessive force is not needed. But consider this: Had the police detained the right man, force might have been in order because of a fear that the alleged criminal might have tried to flee.
