Five white undercover New York police officers mistakenly tackled former American tennis star James Blake, an African American, to the ground and handcuffed him Wednesday, according to the New York Daily News.
Blake was heading to the US Open and was standing outside of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown when he saw someone charging towards him. He was then thrown to the ground and handcuffed. The officers incorrectly considered him a suspect in an identity theft ring in the area and held him down for fifteen minutes until one of the police officers realized who he was and apologized. However, the officer who tackled him reportedly did not apologize.
“It was definitely scary and definitely crazy,” Blake told 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 said. “You’d think they could say, ‘Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking into something.’ I was just standing there. I wasn’t running… It’s blatantly unnecessary.”
Blake suffered a cut on his left elbow and bruises on his left leg from the incident.
“Today James Blake was detained by police in midtown Manhattan in regards to an ongoing investigation into fraudulently purchased cell phones, after being misidentified by a cooperating witness,” police said in a statement. “Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately. In regards to the alleged improper use of force, the Police Commissioner directed the internal affairs bureau to investigate.”
