The Man James Blake Was Mistaken For Was Also Innocent

NYPD has some explaining to do. The NY Police department has come under fire after a case of “mistaken identity” led them to forcefully slam former tennis star James Blake into the pavement while he was standing outside his hotel. The NYPD’s excuse is that they were investigating a credit card fraud ring and that Blake looked so much like the suspect they were investigating that even a witness misidentified Blake. They even used an Instagram picture as identification. Only one problem though — the person they thought James Blake was, is also innocent. 

NY Times Reports: 

‘The team of officers, looking for suspects in a credit card fraud ring, were relying on a courier who identified Mr. Blake as one of the buyers, the police said. The officers also had an Instagram photo of someone believed to be involved. That person, who Mr. Bratton said looked like Mr. Blake’s “twin brother,” turned out to have no role in the scheme.’

The police commissioner has since apologized to Blake, which Blake accepted, though he’s still angry — and rightfully so. Besides the fact that the “suspect” who’s picture was pulled from Instagram wasn’t even involved in the identity theft scam, what makes matters worse is that the police officers didn’t even follow protocol after slamming James Blake and their boss essentially had to find out about it after the news reports. 

Via NY Times

Officer Frascatore then ran toward Mr. Blake and knocked him to the ground, raising concerns about “the inappropriateness of the amount of force that was used during the arrest,” Mr. Bratton said.

After releasing Mr. Blake, the officers did not fill out a “void arrest” form, leaving Mr. Bratton to learn what had happened from members of his public affairs staff, who told him about news reports about the episode.