He's the nicest person on earth and still gets treated this way? I wonder what Lleyton Hewitt would have to say about this ...
The Daily News reports:
James Blake, a former tennis pro from Fairfield, Conn. who was once ranked No. 4 in the world and was among the most popular U.S. players of his generation, was slammed to the ground, handcuffed and detained by five plainclothes city cops Wednesday outside his midtown hotel before heading out to the U.S. Open, Blake told the Daily News. The officers, who were all white, mistook Blake for a suspect in an indentity theft ring operating around the midtown hotel. The incident occurred around noon in front of the Grand Hyatt on East 42 St., as Blake, a 35-year-old African-American who attended Harvard before going on tour, was waiting for a car to take him to Flushing Meadows, where he was making corporate appearances for Time-Warner Cable. "It was definitely scary and definitely crazy," said Blake, who suffered a cut to his left eblow and bruises to his left leg. Asked if he considered it a case of racial profiling, Blake said, "I don't know if it's as simple as that. To me it's as simple as unnecessary police force, no matter what my race is. 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. You would think at some point they would get the memo that this isn't okay, but it seems that there's no stopping it."Yep.
Blake said he had just answered a few questions from a writer for a tennis magazine and was texting when he looked up and saw someone in shorts and a T-shirt charging at him, splitting the doorman outside the Hyatt, an official hotel for the U.S. Tennis Association. "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," Blake said. Blake said the officer, who he said was not wearing a badge, picked him up and threw him down on the sidewalk, yelled at him to roll over on his face and said, "Don't say a word." Blake said he 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?" An officer said, "We'll tell you. You are in safe hands." Said Blake, "I didn't feel very safe."
UPDATE: More alleged vile behavior from NYPD:
'Who would believe a n----- and a f-----?': Nightmare ride with racist cabbie ends in bogus arrest, lawsuit claims / Read HERE.
3 comments:
Well, it was identity theft. They had to tackle him before he pulled out a really sharp fake driver's license or something.
Your police need a reality check. They're out of control.
Just finished reading the current New Yorker article on NYPD's efforts to police humanely. Looks like their annual 3 day-training isn't doing the job. The only bright side is that they're trying not to hire people who are attracted to the Department because they seek an opportunity to exercise power over others. Very hard to change the behavior of officers with that psychological disposition. Add in racism & homophobia, and it may be impossible.
Post a Comment