Former tennis star James Blake was reportedly thrown to the ground and cuffed Wednesday outside a midtown hotel in a case where NYPD cops mistook him for an identity theft suspect, according to the New York Daily News.
A white cop slammed the former black tennis star to the ground, and reportedly none of the cops identified themselves before the incident.
"It was definitely scary and definitely crazy," Blake said, via the New York Daily News. "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."
Blake was getting ready to make an appearance at the U.S. Open Wednesday, when an unidentified police officer reportedly tackled him to the concrete ground of E. 42nd St. The incident happened around noon on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
Blake said the officer was not wearing a badge, and had told him not to say a word, according to the New York Daily News. Blake was only released when another cop noticed that they had apprehended the former tennis star.
Blake was never received an apology from the officer who tackled him, and police reported that Blake was only cuffed for a minute. "I'm going to cooperate. But do you mind if I ask what this is all about?" Blake said to the officer, according to The New York Daily News. The officer reportedly said that he was in safe hands, which Blake didn't agree with at the time.
An investigation has been opened by internal affairs at the direction of the Police commissioner Bill Bratton.
"I will not tolerate any type of excessive use of force on the part of my police, but as always, we have that saying, the first story is never the last story," said Bratton, via the New York Daily News.
Police reportedly arrested a man who was near Blake, and that man was reportedly connected with the identity scam.
At first the former tennis star didn't want to bring the story to the public, but in the end he felt it would shed light on excessive police force. Blake said he would like an apology from the department, as well as to know what will happen to the officer who tackled him, according to USA Today.
"The real problem is that I was tackled for no reason and that happens to a lot of people who don't have a media outlet to voice that to," said Blake, via the New York Daily News.
The former tennis great had won 10 singles titles and was ranked No. 4 in the world at one point. Blake plans to get to the bottom of this and will use his voice to do so, but he worries for the people who don't have the resources or the media outlet to handle this issue.
