The NYPD has released a video of former tennis star James Blake being tackled and arrested outside a New York City hotel by police officer James Frascatore on Wednesday.
Blake was minding his own business and leaning up against the exterior of the hotel when the incident occurred. Frascatore approached him in plain clothes, swiftly pushed him against the wall and brought him to the ground before handcuffing him. Along with the video, the NYPD released a statement about the incident.
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"The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau interviewed James Blake last night," the statement reads, according to Deadspin. "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 believed Blake to be a suspect he was looking for in a credit card fraud case, but the mistake made headlines following the shocking and violent way he went about obtaining him. The officer has been placed on desk duty in light of the incident after a lot of public backlash.
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Officers were in plain clothes as they attempted to expose the ring, which used fraudulent credit cards to by cell phones, according to Gawker.
As part of the sting, police arranged for a private service to deliver phones to a suspect at the hotel. After the operation went down and a person was arrested, the delivery person pointed out two other people he had delivered to in the lobby the day before.
Blake was confused for one of the suspects, but the mistake wasn't realized until a retired police officer recognized him, according to reports. New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said that the suspect looks as though he could be Blake's twin brother and he described the incident as "very disturbing," per the New York Times.
Blake is shown cooperating in the video and didn't resist the arrest or try to flee, but there are reports that the former top-10 tennis star suffered scrapes and bruises as a result of the brutality.
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