NYC police boss, mayor apologize to 'cuffed Blake

The New York City police commissioner and mayor offered apologies to former tennis star James Blake on Thursday as officials scrambled to deal with fallout from his mistaken arrest outside a Manhattan hotel.

The officer who forcefully arrested Blake was also put on desk duty as the episode became a headache for the department at a time when the city is hosting the US Open, one of tennis' premier events and where Blake was a fan favorite.

"I spoke to Mr Blake a short time ago and personally apologized for yesterday's incident," Police Commissioner William Bratton said in a statement on Thursday evening. "Mr Blake said he would like to meet with the mayor and me at a future date, which we would be agreeable to."

Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking on cable's NY1, also publicly apologized saying of his arrest, "this shouldn't have happened and he shouldn't have been treated this way".

Earlier on Thursday, the 35-year-old Blake said he was never told why he was forced to the ground and handcuffed.

"I'd like an explanation for how they conducted themselves because I think we all need to be held accountable for our actions, and police as well," Blake said on ABC's Good Morning America.

The mishap unfolded on Wednesday outside the Grand Hyatt New York hotel, where detectives were investigating a credit card fraud ring that was having retail items brought there by a delivery service, police said.

A retailer had given police a photo of a man who was involved, police said.

"If you look at that photo, it is a remarkable likeness of Mr James Blake," Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at a hastily called news conference.

"They look like twins."

The confusion intensified when a cooperating witness misidentified Blake as a suspect while Blake was standing outside the hotel waiting to head to the US Open.

Blake said he looked up from his cell phone and saw a plainclothes officer charging him before he was body-slammed.

"I was standing there doing nothing - not running, not resisting, in fact, smiling," Blake said.

Blake told officers to check his identification, and he was released. He said the officer never identified himself.

(China Daily 09/12/2015 page11)