Councilman calls for firing of NYPD officer in James Blake arrest
Bronx City Councilman Andy King is calling for the police officer who tackled retired tennis player James Blake to be fired immediately and wants the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus he co-chairs to get involved.
“I’m asking for immediate termination,” King said. “There comes a point where, hey, if you have a teacher in the classroom who can’t get it right, you got to let that teacher go; if you have someone who is working in the news industry who can't get it right, you got to let them go; if you have a police officer who can’t get it right, you got to let him go. We’re at that stage.”
Blake told The New York Times that he was standing outside a midtown hotel Sept. 9 when a plainclothes officer tackled and detained him without identifying himself as a law enforcement officer during the 10 minutes he was handcuffed. After the incident, New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said the officer involved, James Frascatore, mistook Blake for a suspect in a credit card fraud ring and that he did not think race played a role in the incident. The NYPD released video of the incident, and Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio also apologized to the biracial athlete.
In the days since, Frascatore’s record has been scrutinized. The Times reported that at least seven people have filed complaints, lawsuits or other legal papers alleging Frascatore roughed them up without explanation in 2012 and 2013. This led Blake and King to call for his termination.
De Blasio’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, de Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton told the Daily News a decision would be made about Frascatore's status after an investigation has been completed.
King disagreed with the mayor’s approach. “It’s a disrespect to watch a video, and act like our eyes are lying to us," the councilman said. "This termination sets the tone that, hey, listen, we need to be respected. We don’t have these conversations with any other ethnicity. It just seems that when it comes to men of color, we constantly just keep going through this."
King said he planned to discuss next steps Tuesday with the BLA Caucus.
However, at least one caucus member, City Councilman Donovan Richards, indicated that immediate termination may not be appropriate. Richards said all police officers must be granted fair due process, but added that the NYPD should be more transparent about what happens to officers accused of misconduct.
“We can never get a clear answer on that,” Richards said. “So until there are repercussions to officers’ actions, we will continue to see this pattern of mistrust between communities and the police department.”