James Blake to Meet with Mayor, Police Commissioner

Former tennis star James Blake met with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton regarding the star’s mistaken arrest nearly two weeks ago.

Mr. Blake, who is biracial, was waiting for a auto to the U.S. Open outside his Manhattan hotel on September 9 when a plainclothes officer took him to the ground after he was mistaken for a suspect wanted for credit-card fraud.

The officer who tackled Blake, James Frascatore, is on modified duty pending the outcome of an investigation. The mayor & cops officers commissioner have apologized to Blake. Blake told ABC News that the officer “picked me up and body-slammed me and put me on the ground and told me to turn over and shut my mouth, and put the cuffs on me”.

With reporting from the Associated Press. “We’re not looking for anything that’s going to be a quick and easy solution”. “This shouldn’t have happened, and he shouldn’t have been treated this way”, de Blasio said, adding that he and Commissioner Bratton “are going to constantly improve the training of the men and women of the NYPD to focus on using only the force that’s needed in each situation”.

Blake describes Monday’s meeting as productive.

Blake said the officer did not identify himself and that he was held for 15 minutes until police realized he was not involved in the scheme.

Blake had said the officer should be fired, but following the meeting he said he understands due process, “the fact that he has rights in the court”.

Asked if Blake was getting special treatment because of his celebrity, de Blasio said: “I talk to a lot of regular citizens” and his goal was to explain the city’s efforts at police reform to Blake.

“I don’t want a lawsuit that says, ‘Here’s $5 million”.

“It was based on a shared commitment to accountability and a desire to build trust. The vast majority of our police officers are well-prepared to calmly and appropriately handle arrests, and do so every day, but there are obviously those who need additional support”. “I do think about it often”, he said of his encounter with police.

Outside City Hall, Mr. Blake said the incident was still very much on his mind.