Former professional tennis player James Blake has been mistakenly detained in New York as he waited for a car to take him to the US Open.
James Blake, 35, told the New York Daily News that a group of five plainclothes officers slammed him to the ground and held him for 15 minutes on September 9.
The NYPD said in a statement that the officers mistakenly believed James Blake was a suspect in a theft case.
Once it was determined that James Blake was not the suspect, he was released.
James Blake said he suffered a cut on his arm and bruises on his legs. He said the officers did not speak to him before they pushed him to the ground.
Photo FoxSports
“You’d think they could say: <<Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking in to something>>,” James Blake told the Daily News.
“You would think at some point they would get the memo that this isn’t OK, but it seems that there’s no stopping it.”
Once No 4 player in the world, James Blake was set to make an appearance at the US Open for the Time-Warner Cable company.
James Blake retired following his US Open exit in 2013 after winning 10 singles titles in a career in which he also became No 1 US player.
Police said a “cooperating witness” mistakenly identified James Blake as being involved in “a ring dealing in fraudulently purchased cell phones”.
James Blake, who is black, said race may have contributed to the incident. All of the officers were white.
However, the former tennis star said his primary concern was with the amount of force used.
“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,” James Blake told the Daily News.
The NYPD said it was investigating whether the officers used excessive force.
The department has recently been involved in a number of high-profile cases involving accusations of police brutality.
NYPD Officer Peter Liang has been charged over the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley in a block of flats in New York City, according to a lawyer in the case.
Scott Rynecki told the Associated Press that Officer Peter Liang had been charged by a grand jury in the death of the unarmed black man.
When grand juries declined to charge officers over the deaths of other black men, there were nationwide protests.
After Akai Gurley’s death in November, police said it was an accident.
Scott Rynecki is the lawyer for Akai Gurley’s partner.
She and Akai Gurley opened the door into the dark stairwell when the police officer was patrolling the flats on November 20.
Police say Peter Liang fired without a word and apparently by accident.
Unnamed officials involved in the case told media on February 10 there would be charges but it is not clear what they will be.
Tens of thousands of people are attending the funeral of Rafael Ramos, one of the two New York policemen shot dead a week ago.
VP Joe Biden praised the “finest police department in the world” at the service, attended by police forces from across the US and Canada.
Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot after weeks of anti-police protests.
Police at the funeral again snubbed New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who appeared to back some of the protests.
Funeral details for Officer Wenjian Liu have yet to be announced.
Telling the mourners Officer Rafael Ramos had been a “hero”, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced he had promoted both officers posthumously to Detective First Grade.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also paid tribute to the dead officer as well as to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
“To the Ramos family, we’re all lucky to have Rafael,” VP Joe Biden told the congregation at the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens.
“He didn’t just have a bible in his locker, he lived it in his heart. He was a cop for all the right reasons.”
Rafael Ramos, 40, had been studying to become a police chaplain and was described as “a man of great faith” by a pastor who knew him.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the man who shot dead two NYPD officers, told members of the public “watch what I’m going to do” shortly before the attack, police say.
Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, 28, had a history of violence and mental instability.
Candlelit vigils have been held in New York in memory of the two officers, Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot officers as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn before running into a nearby subway station and reportedly shooting himself.
He had posted messages on social media saying he would kill police officers in retaliation for the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died when white police officers arrested him.
The Rev Al Sharpton, a prominent civil rights activist, said Eric Garner’s family had no connection to the gunman and called the killings “reprehensible”.
Community leaders have called for peace and the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, has ordered flags across the city to be flown at half-mast.
Ismaaiyl Brinsley had been arrested at least 19 times and had a troubled childhood so violent that his mother was afraid of him, police said.
In online postings, he expressed “self-despair and anger at himself and where his life was”, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Before the shootings, Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and wounded a former girlfriend.
The killings come at a tense time, with nationwide protests over the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police officers.
The attacks have also put pressure on the New York mayor.
Officers turned their back on him at a news conference, angry at what they saw as his support for protests against the police.
An armed opened fire and shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York City before killing himself.
Two New York City police officers have died after being shot inside a patrol car Saturday afternoon, according to police. Authorities say the gunman then killed himself.
The shooting took place in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Both officers were rushed to Woodhull hospital, where one was pronounced dead, police said. The second officer was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police say the suspect fatally shot himself inside a subway station. His motive wasn’t immediately clear.
The shooting comes at a tense time. Police in New York are being criticized for their tactics following the chokehold death of Eric Garner, who was stopped by police on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.
Demonstrators around the country have staged die-ins and other protests since a grand jury decided December 3 not to indict the officer in Eric Garner’s death, a decision that closely followed a Missouri grand jury’s refusal to indict a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old.
A new US grand jury will decide whether to prosecute a NYPD officer over the fatal shooting of unarmed black man Akai Gurley in Brooklyn.
Akai Gurley was shot in the chest after he entered the stairwell of his apartment building last month.
The decision comes days after a grand jury opted against charging a New York policeman in the chokehold death of another unarmed black man, Eric Garner.
The decision has sparked protests across the country.
The US was already facing race-related unrest over the decision not to indict a white police officer who had shot dead a young black man, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri.
In New York City on December, protesters briefly laid down in Macy’s flagship store, at Grand Central Terminal and at an Apple store.
Hundreds streamed along Fifth Avenue and other parts of Manhattan, with banners and chants of “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe” – a reference to the words of Eric Garner as he was being restrained by a white police officer.
Protests were also held in other US cities including Chicago, Washington, Denver, and Boston.
Meanwhile, a memorial service was held for 28-year-old Akai Gurley in New York ahead of his funeral on December 6.
At an earlier news conference, his mother tearfully demanded justice for her son.
Speaking alongside her, Kevin Powell, president of the advocacy group BK Nation, called the shooting part of a “series of modern-day lynchings”.
In announcing the grand jury – a body that determines whether to bring criminal charges – Brooklyn’s District Attorney Ken Thompson said it was important to conduct a full and fair investigation.
Police say Akai Gurley and his girlfriend had opened a door into the unlit stairway and an inexperienced officer on a routine patrol fired his gun.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton called the shooting an accident. However, the medical examiner has ruled that the death is a homicide.
Civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton had initially planned to speak at Akai Gurley’s memorial service but later said he would pay his respects without making an address.
UN human rights experts earlier expressed “legitimate concerns” about grand juries failing to charge the two policemen involved in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
In a statement, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsak, said it was part of a broader “pattern of impunity” concerning minority victims.
Following the outcry over the Garner case, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the city’s 22,000-strong police force to be retrained in how to better communicate and remain calm when making arrests. They will also be fitted with body cameras.
Activists have called for another march in Washington on December 13, followed by a summit on civil rights.
The NYPD is investigating the death of Joan Rivers, who passed away on September 4 after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest during a routine surgical procedure the previous week.
Joan Rivers, 81, stopped breathing on August 28 at Yorkville Endoscopy as she underwent an otherwise routine procedure on her vocal chords. The comeddiene was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan later that same day a placed on life support. She died seven days later.
The NYPD is investigating the death of Joan Rivers (photo Getty Images)
A police source told the Hollywood Reporter: “Yes, NYPD is investigating.”
“We investigate all such deaths, meaning <<not by natural causes>>. Although it might end up being ruled natural by the [medical examiner], when it’s not readily apparent, we investigate.”
The New York City’s Medical Examiner’s office said on September 5 that the “cause and manner” of Joan Rivers’ death will “require further studies”.
Yorkville Endoscopy is also under investigation by the New York State Department of Health.
US police is developing an infrared body scanner that can detect whether a suspect is carrying a weapon without needing to frisk him.
Infrared rays will be used to scan a form of natural energy – like radiation – emitted from the body of someone concealing a gun on the street.
If something is obstructing the flow of that energy, such as a weapon, the gadget will show exactly where the object is on a suspect’s body.
As a result, officers will get a digital outline of where the firearm is. The device could also be used to find suicide bomber vests, Newsday reported.
Infrared rays will be used to scan a form of natural energy - like radiation - emitted from the body of someone concealing a gun on the street
The New York Post reported that the device has been undergoing development for the past three years for the streets of New York City.
The device will be mounted on the top of NYPD vans and will shoot rays at a suspect or scan the streets for weapons.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it currently only works at a short range – from around three to four feet away from a person.
“This can be done from a short range,” Raymond Kelly said.
“We want a distance of at least 25 meters.”
Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the department is working with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop the device.
The gadget would mean the NYPD would no longer have to stop and frisk those suspected of carrying weapons – a practice which rocketed by 13% last year.
Yet there are also concerns that the gadget could be an invasion of privacy as they show an outline of a suspect’s body – similar to “naked” body scanners used in airports.
It comes as the NYPD is set to develop a new range of futuristic technology to avoid fire between its own ranks.
Raymond Kelly asked his officers to brainstorm ideas following the death of Omar J. Edwards, 25, when he was shot while off duty last week.
Omar J. Edwards had left work when he witnessed a burglary, drew his weapon and chased the suspect. Police responding to the call shot him dead.
One idea for the protective gadgets uses radio frequency tags to show officers where other cops are in the city.
Another involves tags that would work gun-to-gun and use an infrared sensor.
When a weapon is pulled from an officer’s holster it would trigger a signal – seen or heard – that would be sent to the gun of a nearby officer.
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