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cops take down Blake while he's waiting for a ride
Surveillance videotape released by the New York Police Department shows Officer James Frascatore ambushing tennis star James Blake in what appears to be a startling, illegal arrest. Frascatore has been sued four times for excessive force in the past.
Missing from the surveillance tape, released on Friday, is any indication that Officer Frascatore, 38, followed procedures or read James Blake his Miranda rights before arresting him.
On releasing the video, the NYPD issued a statement saying the Internal Affairs Bureau had interviewed Blake about the incident on Thursday.
"The NYPD is releasing video footage from the September 9th incident outside of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan...The investigation is still ongoing," said Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis in a statement.
The roughly one-minute surveillance clip opens with Blake standing in the middle of the frame at the entrance to the Grand Hyatt when, suddenly, a plainclothes police officer (Frascatore) runs into the picture from the right, slamming into Blake and grabbing him by the left arm, as Blake moves away.
The officer grabs Blake by the back of the neck before aggressively swinging him around and shoving him to the ground, forcing him to lay face down. Blake doesn't appear to be resisting arrest.
Once on the ground, Frascatore pushes his knee into Blake's lower back while grabbing his arms and pulling them back to handcuff him. Then the cop rolls the tennis star over and up into a sitting position, before bringing him to his feet and marching him away.
The arrest occurred on September 9, when the police officer mistakenly identified Blake as an identity thief. The next day, Police Commissioner William Bratton apologized for Frascatore's behavior. The attacking officer has been stripped of his badge after four years on the force.
