NEW YORK — Former tennis star James Blake, whose caught-on-camera takedown by a plainclothes New York City police officer prompted apologies from the mayor and police commissioner, told The Associated Press on Saturday the officer who wrongly arrested him should be fired.
“I don’t think this person should ever have a badge or a gun again,” Blake, 35, said a day after surveillance video of the arrest outside a Manhattan hotel — and details about previous complaints over the officer’s use of force — became public.
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask,” Blake said.
Blake, who had been ranked as high as No. 4 in the world before retiring after the 2013 U.S. Open, was misidentified by a cooperating witness as being part of a scheme to sell fraudulently purchased merchandise when he was tackled, police have said.
The arresting officer, James Frascatore, who has been with the NYPD for four years, has been named in several civil rights lawsuits alleging excessive force. He has also been the subject of four civilian complaints — an above-average number for NYPD officers, according to complaint data.
“I think that kind of police officer tarnishes the badge, which I have the utmost respect for and I believe that the majority of police officers do great work and they’re heroes,” Blake told AP. “So this person doesn’t ever belong in the same sentence with the heroes that are doing the right kind of police work and keeping the public safe.”
A message left at a phone number listed for Frascatore, 38, wasn’t returned.
Frascatore has been put on desk duty while internal affairs detectives continue their investigation of the Blake incident. Determining what discipline, if any, Frascatore could receive won’t happen anytime soon.
