NYPD Tackles And Cuffs James Blake On The Way To The US Open Former tennis star James Blake was tackled to the ground and handcuffed by five white undercover cops on Wednesday afternoon while on his way to an appearance at the US Open in NYC . Blake was outside of his midtown hotel waiting for a car to transport him to the U.S. Open, where he was scheduled to make several corporate appearances on behalf of Time-Warner Cable. “It was definitely scary and definitely crazy,” he told The New York Post . He said that none of the officers immediately identified themselves as undercover cops, and he initially had no idea what was going on or why. “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. 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 not even close (to be okay). It’s blatantly unnecessary.” Blake said that he was distracted as the incident occurred, having just completed an interview for a tennis magazine in the middle of texting. He says as he looked up, he saw a man in shorts and a T-shirt charging toward him. “Maybe I’m naïve, but I just assumed it was someone I went to high school with or something who was running at me to give me a big hug, so I smiled at the guy.” The plainclothes officer — not wearing a badge — lifted Blake and slammed him down on the sidewalk, demanded that he roll over on his face and yelled, “Don’t say a word.” Blake responded, “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?” Another officer joining the scene said, “We’ll tell you. You are in safe hands.” Eventually, five cops surrounded Blake as he was facedown on the pavement and handcuffed. He said he was soon told that he fit the description of a suspect in an identity theft probe, before officers eventually realized they had the wrong person. Blake says when the cops finally realized their mistake, they apologized. However, the officer who originally tackled and cuffed him never said a word. SMH! The NYPD just sees any and every Black man as a potential threat, huh?
