The NYPD this afternoon released video footage of plainclothes NYPD officer James Frascatore tackling retired tennis star James Blake to the ground outside of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the NYPD, Blake was mistakenly arrested by five detectives from the Identity Theft Task Force. The arrest was in regards to an ongoing investigation into the purchase of cellphones using "fraudulent cards." Blake was released from handcuffs after 15 minutes with a cut on his left elbow and bruises on his left leg.
The 60-second surveillance video begins with Blake leaning against a column at the hotel's entrance looking at his cellphone. The officer runs into the frame and takes Blake to the ground, proceeding to handcuff him in front of a steady stream of mostly-indifferent pedestrians.
"It was so blatant. I was standing there doing nothing. Not running, not resisting in fact smiling," Blake said in a Wednesday interview on ABC. When the officer tackled him, "At no time did he let me know he was a police officer."
In a statement accompanying the video, NYPD Deputy Stephen Davis said, “The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau interviewed James Blake last night. The NYPD is releasing video footage from the September 9th incident outside of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan. A copy of the video was provided to Mr. Blake’s attorney. The investigation is still ongoing.”
Frascatore, an officer with a lengthy civilian complaint record, was placed on desk duty soon after the tackling incident on Wednesday. NYPD Commissioner Bratton later stated that the incident was only brought to his attention when Blake's account appeared in the press. "My concern is that... there's department protocols that should have been followed but apparently were not," he said.
Both Bratton and Mayor de Blasio announced yesterday that they had personally apologized to Blake. However, Bratton told reporters that despite the fact that Blake is African American, "race had nothing to do with this." Frascatore and the other four officers who detained Blake are white.
"I'd like the apology to be more in terms of James as an illustration of excessive force used on men of color for non-violent crimes," his step-mother Linda Blake responded publicly.
