Nasty stuff for James Blake in New York City.
The former world no.4 has been brutally assaulted by an NYPD police officer just outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel. James has been slammed to the ground and handcuffed in a terrible case of mistaken identity.
Blake: It was crazy…
According to James “It was definitely scary and definitely crazy. 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.”
James was freed only after he was identified by an NYPD retiree “That is James Blake, the tennis player,”
… I thought he was an old friend
The former pro commented “Maybe I’m naïve, but I just assumed it was someone I went to high school with or someone who was running at me to give me a big hug, so I smiled at the guy,”
Then he said to the cop “I’m going to do whatever you say. I’m going to cooperate. But do you mind if I ask what this is all about?”
From the police
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton commented “The nature of what he described is not what we do, not what we’re supposed to do. 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.”
| SAFER STAYING ON COURT |
