Retired Tennis Star James Blake Allegedly Tackled By New York Police After They Confuse Him For Suspect!

UPDATE:  WE HAVE THE ARREST VIDEO!! (SEE BELOW)

Professional tennis star James Blake is calling out the NYPD after they displayed some rude and perhaps racist behavior. Blake, who was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world at one point, was mistakenly detained Wednesday by police detectives in New York.

Apparently, he matched the description of someone who was involved in a case pertaining to fraudulently purchased cell phones. A statement released by the NYPD confirms this, “Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately.”

But this story is not that simple. You see, those detectives didn’t even give Blake a chance to identify himself. Blake claims he was tackled and then immediately handcuffed outside his Manhattan hotel while he was waiting for a car to drive him to the U.S. Open.

The 35-year-old tennis star told the New York Daily News the following…

It was definitely scary and definitely crazy. 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. I was just standing there. I wasn’t running. It’s not even close…It’s blatantly unnecessary.

And the internet agrees with Blake. Twitter was raging hard yesterday. Calling out the NYPD for being racists and pointing out how it’s still not safe to walk outside and be black at the same time.

The tweet you see below might be my favorite one…

Meanwhile, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton claims this is not what officers usually do.

It’s very disturbing, the idea that he claims he was rushed by a person in a pair of t-shirt and shorts who pushed him to the ground and he was assisted by four others who identified themselves, ultimately, as police officers, and that he suffered an injury during that. Just the nature of what he described is not what we do.

Well, the video has surfaced and it’s exactly how Blake described it.  The entire thing is quite sad and pathetic.  I’m not going to go so far as to label this racially motivated but it’s NYPD abusing their power for sure.  WATCH!