James Blake told the New York Daily News he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday after being mistaken for a suspect in an identity theft ring.
Bob Leverone / Getty Images
Former tennis star James Blake, who holds 10 singles titles and retired in 2013 after 14 years playing professionally, told a reporter for the New York Daily News that he was mistakenly confronted and thrown to the ground by "five plainclothes city cops" hours before attending the U.S. Open on Wednesday.
The officers, who were white, apparently thought Blake was a suspect in an identity theft scam that often operated around the midtown Manhattan hotel, the Daily News reported.
Blake declined to comment further on the incident Thursday when reached by BuzzFeed News, but confirmed that details in the Daily News report attributed to him were correct.
He told the Daily News reporter that he was "slammed to the ground, handcuffed and detained" in front of the Grand Hyatt on East 42nd Street.
The officers looked at his license and his Open credential," according to the Daily News. After he was handcuffed for about 15 minutes, the officers realized they had the wrong person and apologized."
An NYPD spokesperson told BuzzFeed News they don't have an incident report of the confrontation and were unable to confirm details.
Blake, who is black, told the Daily News he is not sure if believes he was racially profiled:
"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," he said.
"I have resources to get to the bottom of this," Blake told the Daily News. "I have a voice. But what about someone who doesn't have those resources and doesn't have a voice? The real problem is that I was tackled for no reason and that happens to a lot of people who don't have a media outlet to voice that to."
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