http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/ex-tennis-star-james-blake-mistakenly-tackled-white-cops-article-1.2353983

EXCLUSIVE: James Blake, former tennis star, slammed to ground and handcuffed outside midtown hotel by white NYPD cops who mistook him for ID theft suspect

Retired black tennis star James Blake, in an NYPD double-fault, was slammed to a Manhattan sidewalk and handcuffed by a white cop in a brutal case of mistaken identity.

The 35-year-old Blake, once ranked No. 4 in the world, suffered a cut to his left elbow and bruises to his left leg as five plainclothes cops eventually held him for 15 minutes Wednesday outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

“It was definitely scary and definitely crazy,” Blake told the Daily News. “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.”

Blake, on his way to make a corporate appearance for Time Warner Cable at the U.S. Open, said none of white cops identified themselves, including the officer who charged straight at him and bounced him off the E. 42nd St. concrete around noon.

“Don’t say a word,” snapped the officer, who Blake said was not wearing a badge.

Blake — whose right eye appeared red hours later at the Midtown hotel — was only turned loose when a former cop recognized the man in cuffs and alerted the arresting officers, a police source said.

“That is James Blake, the tennis player,” the NYPD retiree told them.

The first cop involved never apologized to Blake for the physical thumping or the subsequent cuffing, the ex-player recounted.

Blake was only in cuffs for a minute after he was misidentified by a witness during a credit card fraud investigation, police said.

The Harvard-educated athlete was waiting for a car ride to the Queens tennis center after an interview with a magazine writer.

As he started texting on his phone, Blake looked up and saw someone in shorts and a T-shirt racing at him.

“Maybe I’m naïve, but I just assumed it was someone I went to high school with or someone who was running at me to give me a big hug, so I smiled at the guy,” Blake said.

He was adamant that the officer never said a word: “No, just rushed me.”

The unidentified officer picked Blake up, threw the 6-foot-1 player down on the sidewalk and commanded him to roll over facedown.

“I’m going to do whatever you say,” Blake recalled telling the cop. “I’m going to cooperate. But do you mind if I ask what this is all about?”

One officer replied: “We’ll tell you. You are in safe hands.”

Blake said, “I didn’t feel very safe.”

“You’d think they could say, ‘Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking into something. I was just standing there. I wasn’t running. It’s not even close (to be okay). It’s blatantly unnecessary. You would think at some point they would get the memo that this isn’t okay, but it seems that there’s no stopping it.”

olice Commissioner Bill Bratton said Wednesday night he had directed internal affairs to open an investigation.

“The nature of what he described is not what we do, not what we’re supposed to do,” Bratton said on NY1. “I will not tolerate any type of excessive use of force on the part of my police, but as always, we have that saying, the first story is never the last story.”

One officer involved was placed on modified duty after Internal Affairs investigators viewed video footage of the incident, the NYPD said early Thursday.

A man who was standing near Blake was arrested in connection with the scam, police said.

Once he was told about his misidentification as one of the bad guys, Blake told the police to check his license — in his front left pocket — and his Open credential, in his back pocket.

The tennis great said he would like an apology from the department, and he wants to hear there will be repercussions for the officers involved.

Blake said at first he didn’t want to discuss the incident publicly, but felt he had an obligation to bring to light another instance of excessive police.

“I have resources to get to the bottom of this. I have a voice,” Blake said. “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."

-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.