NYPD apologizes to ex-tennis pro James Blake for body slam
NEW YORK - New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton says he offered an apology from the NYPD to former tennis professional James Blake, who was handcuffed by officers after a case of mistaken identity.
Bratton said that he spoke to Blake Thursday afternoon and apologized for the incident, adding that Blake said he would be willing to meet with the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau.
"Additionally, he said he would be returning the Mayor's earlier phone call to speak to him. Mr. Blake said he would like to meet with the Mayor and me at a future date, which we would be agreeable to," said Bratton in a statement.
Blake says he was standing outside a Manhattan hotel Wednesday waiting to head to the U.S. Open when an officer charged him. He says he was body-slammed and handcuffed.
He told officers to check his identification, and he was released.
Blake said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that everyone should be held accountable for their actions, including police.
At the news conference, Bratton said the officer involved in the incident has been placed on modified assignment and has had his gun and badge removed while an investigation is completed. Bratton said investigators have not yet spoken with the officer involved or Blake.
Bratton said the decision to place the officer on modified duty was made after both he and the head of the internal affairs department reviewed videotape of the incident, which Bratton said indicated that the use of force exhibited by the officer may not have been appropriate.
The police commissioner also noted that the incident was not reported and that Bratton himself only learned of it after Blake spoke to the media.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyst told reporters Thursday that Blake was mistakenly identified as a suspect in a credit card theft investigation.
Undercover officers were working to make arrests in the case at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan Wednesday when Blake was wrongly identified as one of the suspects and was taken down to the ground by an officer and handcuffed.
Boyst said the NYPD had an Instagram photo of a person who was believed to be a suspect in the case and that the photo bares a "remarkable likeness" to Blake.
"They look like twins," Boyst said.
Boyst said he could not show the photo to the media because it was later determined the person in the Instagram photo was innocent of all wrongdoing.