Tennis Star Meets NYC Mayor Over Mistaken Arrest

James Blake says he wants incident to result in lasting change
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 22, 2015 12:13 AM CDT
Blake Meets NYC Mayor Over Mistaken Arrest
James Blake arrives at City Hall in NYC yesterday.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Former tennis pro James Blake, who was thrown to the ground by a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel and mistakenly arrested, emerged from a meeting with New York City's mayor and police commissioner yesterday saying they were on the same page about the need for lasting change. "We're not looking for a quick lawsuit," Blake said after a meeting he described as very productive. "We're not looking for anything that's going to be a quick and easy solution. We're looking for a lasting, positive impact on the city and on the police force." Blake said the big theme of the meeting with Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner William Bratton was accountability.

De Blasio "spoke very clearly in there about not just making short-term changes, not making a change that's going to make a difference today that's going to be gone tomorrow, but having an impact that's going to affect even generations," Blake said. The mayor also described the meeting as productive. "We pledged a fair and expeditious investigation into his case and to find further common ground as we continue the work of reform," de Blasio said in a statement. (The fraudsters police were looking for had used a random Instagram photo of someone who resembled the tennis star.)

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