Former Tennis star, James Blake was tackled and handcuffed by white police outside Manhattan hotel on Wednesday. However, it was later found out that it was a brutal case of mistaken identity.
Blake, 35, suffered bruises and a cut on his elbow when he slammed to the Manhattan sidewalk. He was dragged by five plainclothes policemen and held for 15 minutes before they realized that they took down a wrong person, New York Daily News reports.
"It was definitely scary and definitely crazy," Blake told the 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."
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton claimed that he apologized to Blake on Thursday, Sept. 10. Bratton said that the retired tennis star is willing to meet with the Internal Affairs Bureau for further investigation, CNN reports. The former sportsman is also scheduled to meet with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
During the unfortunate incident, Blake was waiting for a car to pick him up in front of the Manhattan hotel when he was tackled and handcuffed by the cops, who were not in uniform. He was scheduled to go to the U.S. Open tennis tournament that day for some special appearance.
According to E! News, Blake was detained in connection with the ongoing investigation regarding fake purchased mobile phones. However, it turned out that the witness misidentified the former tennis player. He was freed once the authorities established that they caught the wrong person.
It is said that at first, the 6-foot-1 player preferred not to discuss the incident in public. However, he changed his mind after he realized that he had the obligation to share his experience of an excessive police. Blake earlier demanded an apology from the department and cleared that he wanted the officers involved to be reprimanded.
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