Tennis player James Blake tells Jimmy Fallon he was forcefully detained by cop in 2015 over mistaken identity
James Blake, who made an appearance on the late-night talk show, 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon', on Wednesday night, spoke about his ordeal with the police in 2015.
The former World No. 4 said when he was in New York City for the US Open in 2015, he was tackled by a plain-clothed police officer who suspected him to be involved in a credit card fraud scheme. Blake mentioned that he was standing outside his hotel waiting for his car to come to pick him up to take him to the tournament and that is when the officer ran up to him, putting him straight to the ground.
In the 10-15 minutes that he was in custody, Blake said the cop forcefully held him on the ground, face down on the pavement and the officer had his knee on Blake's back. He was asked to shut up and instructed to keep his hands behind his back and was handcuffed later. Blake mentioned that he was compliant the whole time and it was not until they conducted a Google search after 15 minutes. After a couple of minutes of looking at the phone and then at him for verification, the officer said there might have been a mistake. However, Blake said no apologies were made and after he was let off, the police officer said the person they're looking for is still on the loose. James stated that he was thankful that he had a voice that he could use and went to the press with his story, later that day.
Last week, Blake spoke to the Associated Press, recalling his ordeal, in the light of the protests over George Floyd's death. "I would love to change this, but for the rest of my life, I'm probably going to be more nervous about any encounter I have with a police officer," said Blake, adding that he was glad that his daughters weren't there to see how he was treated.
In the episode, he told Fallon that he was happy to see people protesting and how quickly the movement started resulting in all four officers being criminally charged. He also said there's one more chance to show accountability that is in November's Presidential elections and urged people to vote for representatives that could bring about a change.
'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' airs weeknights at 11:35 pm ET on NBC.