Ex-tennis star James Blake* roughed up by NYPD

[JonSch7]

This is a borderline troll right? Anyway, your view of this is entirely why people are questions police officers. So you have to beat down the "suspect" now for it to be excessive force? What a joke. It's been reported that the suspect they were looking for is wanted for credit card fraud. There hasn't been any reports about that person being violent. With 5 undercover cops on the case don't you think this officee could have walked up and told Blake that he was being held because he fits the description of a suspect? Just because the NYPD apologized doesn't make it go away. You know what they could do more? How about police their own kind and offer better training so that crap like this is avoided. Believe me, it will do police officers good in the long run. It isn't good to piss off the people.

What was excessive? Grabbing a guy's arm and taking them to the ground to complete the arrest? I agree that they messed up in regards to taking down the wrong guy, and that it was a huge mistake. But as far as excessive force goes, not a chance. Just because a guy is wanted for credit card fraud, doesn't mean he doesn't have a violent past. With five officers assigned, makes me believe that it might have been a little bigger deal than normal.

Your comment about me policing ourselves is wrong. There were a lot more wrongs than rights in this incident, but excessive force isn't one of them.

What do you believe is excessive force?

 

[noleclone2]

I hope you are a troll and not really law enforcement.

 

[LesClaypool]

I also hope you're a troll, but sadly, I think you are being genuine...which make it so much worse.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

What was excessive? Grabbing a guy's arm and taking them to the ground to complete the arrest? I agree that they messed up in regards to taking down the wrong guy, and that it was a huge mistake. But as far as excessive force goes, not a chance. Just because a guy is wanted for credit card fraud, doesn't mean he doesn't have a violent past. With five officers assigned, makes me believe that it might have been a little bigger deal than normal.

Your comment about me policing ourselves is wrong. There were a lot more wrongs than rights in this incident, but excessive force isn't one of them.

What do you believe is excessive force?

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Cluelessness......I hope you are not one of the many cops who gets a lifetime pension.

 

[noles9399]

I also hope you're a troll, but sadly, I think you are being genuine...which make it so much worse.

THIS

 

[southgateNOLE]

What was excessive? Grabbing a guy's arm and taking them to the ground to complete the arrest? I agree that they messed up in regards to taking down the wrong guy, and that it was a huge mistake. But as far as excessive force goes, not a chance. Just because a guy is wanted for credit card fraud, doesn't mean he doesn't have a violent past. With five officers assigned, makes me believe that it might have been a little bigger deal than normal.

Your comment about me policing ourselves is wrong. There were a lot more wrongs than rights in this incident, but excessive force isn't one of them.

What do you believe is excessive force?

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Wow, like another poster mentioned, your "view" of this is the reason why cops find themselves in their current predicament.

What did I find excessive? How about running up to the guy, not identifying yourself, grabbing him, dragging him 6 feet to the left, throwing him around his body and down to the ground then putting a knee to his back. All for what? To ask him a question? That is unwarranted aggressive behavior.

You want to know why there were 5 cops on the case? To waste more tax dollars and give more NYPD overtime pay. They are all a bunch of cowards if 5 men can't walk up to a unarmed guy on his cell phone in front of a 5 star hotel and detain him for questioning.

There is no coincidence that this same cop has a few previous excessive force complaints. That's what I mean about policing yourselves. Stick this guy at a desk job or traffic duty before he makes more mistakes. The NYPD said they have spent 38 million in retraining officers. What a waste of time and money to teach people how to be respectable and honest at their job. Such a shame.

 

[southgateNOLE]

Also how about this for a crazy scenario...

The cop walks up to Blake, takes out his badge, verbally identifies himself and tells Blake he looks like a suspect they are looking for and I need to detain you for questioning. Meanwhile the other 4 cops, who are also undercover, stand around the area just incase Blake wanted to run so then he could have been easily taken down at that point. Obviously Blake wouldn't have ran because he has no reason to.

Seems like a really crazy idea right?

 

[sunset30a]

Also how about this for a crazy scenario...

The cop walks up to Blake, takes out his badge, verbally identifies himself and tells Blake he looks like a suspect they are looking for and I need to detain you for questioning. Meanwhile the other 4 cops, who are also undercover, stand around the area just incase Blake wanted to run so then he could have been easily taken down at that point. Obviously Blake wouldn't have ran because he has no reason to.

Seems like a really crazy idea right?

Well he is black so maybe they thought they couldn't catch him if he ran. In all seriousness, I find myself talking a lot to my teenager about not trusting cops these days. There are just too many instances of excessive force, coercion, etc. to trust them. Its a damn shame but there is getting to be a really fine line between the good guys and bad guys. And by the way, my kid is white and has never been in any trouble with law enforcement. The joker commenting above wearing the law enforcement hat doesn't do anything to change my opinion either.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

Well he is black so maybe they thought they couldn't catch him if he ran. In all seriousness, I find myself talking a lot to my teenager about not trusting cops these days. There are just too many instances of excessive force, coercion, etc. to trust them. Its a damn shame but there is getting to be a really fine line between the good guys and bad guys. And by the way, my kid is white and has never been in any trouble with law enforcement. The joker commenting above wearing the law enforcement hat doesn't do anything to change my opinion either.

Cops love to go off on kids and people who pose no real threat to anyone. It's what they do. Good advice to your teen. Never give one of those idiots a chance to exercise his "authority" over you.

 

[TC Nole OX]

...The NYPD said they have spent 38 million in retraining officers. What a waste of time and money to teach people how to be respectable and honest at their job. Such a shame.

The NYPD have spent over 420 million settling lawsuits in the past 5 years

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/428-million-in-nypd-related-settlements-paid.html

 

[NY_22_Nole]

1. race had nothing to do with this
2. the cop should be out of a job. There is no need so treat anyone the way Blake was treated over stolen cellphones - it's not like he had a remote control in his hand and was about to blow up 100 people

 

[crooked_rain]

Ok...here comes my law enforcement view. (Opinions welcome)

This is not excessive force. Blake is brought down to the ground and never beaten on, kicked, etc. We don't know what information they had on the suspect as far as history of resisting arrest or weapons.

We as officers make mistakes. It looks like NYPD apologized and admitting they messed up. What else should NYPD do? As far as excessive force complaints go, people have the right to file such complainant. A majority are false, and ade justified.

Open to opinions...

Context is everything. If this were a 100% confirmed suspect, to whom you have identified yourself as police, and whom you know to be violent, maybe its just considered rough. But, to the WRONG SUSPECT, to whom you wore no police ID, and you just pull them down? Sorry for any cuts and bruises, citizen? Completely excessive. If you are actually trained this is not excessive, then the problem we have at a societal level, is what's considered acceptable force, not just excessive force.

As far as mistakes and filing complaint, the problem is the officer out of the gates is looked at as being more trustworthy, then the citizen. That's why they give you guys guns and believe your police reports in court. So, it doesn't start out 50%/50% between the two, to the Judge. Unless there's video or compelling injuries, it's often the cop getting the benefit of the doubt. What we need is more honest officers calling out the bad apples among them. Surely you have heard through coworkers of the guys in your locale who give the good ones a bad name? Why don't more good cops publicly out the bad ones? Is that frowned upon by the other cops? Is that considered being a rat? Because that's the way police will win back the public's trust. Policing themselves.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

"In a statement, Patrick Lynch, president of the police union, said, "We agree with the police commissioner that the first story is never the whole story and believe that placing this officer on modified duty is premature and unwarranted. No police officer should ever face punitive action before a complete review of the facts."

The officer, James Frascatore, who is white, is a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed earlier that allege excessive force in separate incidents.

Last year, Frascatore was named in an amended complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn alleging he and seven other officers and sergeants beat and unlawfully arrested a man in a Queens deli in May 2013.

The officer is also named in a complaint filed in May alleging that officers used excessive force against a man named Warren Diggs for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk in 2013. The city denies the allegations in an answer to the complaint, according to court paperwork."
​

This is ridiculous. The cop has been involved in multiple incidents, all of which are potentially grounds for being fired -- yet the a-hole union chief says he should still be walking around with a badge, not even on modified duty. This nutjob won't even give an inch.

The fact that the NYPD was remiss in putting this nitwit on "modified duty" is partially to blame for his repeated incidents.

Yet again. COPS NEED TO POLICE THEIR OWN, if they expect the public's view and respect for them to change. Right now they're the ones making things worse for themselves.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Or maybe if this isn't considered excessive force (smh) then police need to educate the public on what acceptable force is, so we no longer think slamming unarmed, docile suspects to the ground is unacceptable.

Cops should put out a marketing campaign stating that this is a normal police tactic and we shouldn't be appalled. Teach kids starting in elementary school about police rules of engagement so they're no longer taken aback when their daddy gets thrown to the ground or yanked out of a car.

Whatever it is, there needs to be some clarity b/c right now no one seems to see eye to eye. So police procedures need to be made more well known to the public.

 

[OneNeverNoles]

I like how everyone's first point is "RACE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" so as to keep up the myth about racism no longer existing or being a problem and allowing themselves to feel better/less guilty.

Yea, a white guy suspected of another financial crime like insider trading would've been grabbed and slammed to the ground too. Keep telling yourself that "RACE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" guy.

 

[SWFNole]

I like how everyone's first point is "RACE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" so as to keep up the myth about racism no longer existing or being a problem and allowing themselves to feel better/less guilty.

Yea, a white guy suspected of another financial crime like insider trading would've been grabbed and slammed to the ground too. Keep telling yourself that "RACE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" guy.

A better comparison is if a white guy was in the same situation would the same thing have happened. Probably. Still, it's laughable to say race wasn't a factor when the guy fit the description of who they were after,

 

[YogiNole]

Well he is black so maybe they thought they couldn't catch him if he ran

To be fair, Blake is a superior athlete. Maybe we can use these jokers for scouting talent for recruiting services

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Another incident of excessive use of force by the police. I guess Blake should consider himself lucky he didn't get shot.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...stakenly-tackled-white-cops-article-1.2353983

Five white undercover cops slammed retired black tennis star James Blake to the ground outside his Midtown hotel Wednesday in a violent case of mistaken identity.

The cops were investigating a credit card fraud operation when they took Blake to the ground around noon.

A police source said Blake was misidentified as a suspect wanted for buying a cellphone with a bogus credit card. A man who was standing near Blake was arrested in connection with the scam, police said.

Legalized thugs.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Story just gets worse for the NYPD...

The guy they thought was the suspect was actually innocent too, so had the sting actually gone after the "right guy" he still would have been the wrong person!

http://deadspin.com/the-nypd-sting-that-wrongly-arrested-james-blake-seems-1729924319

As for the officer, Frascatore, I wouldn't trust him to honestly issue parking tickets. In addition to his several pending incidents, he didn't tell his higher ups about the incident (arresting the wrong guy) at all, a violation of department policy. A real gem, but luckily the union chief is defending him publicly.