Since being tackled and handcuffed by a police officer who mistook him for a nonviolent criminal suspect in Manhattan on Wednesday, retired tennis star James Blake has made it clear he wants a say in the conversation on police brutality, announcing upcoming meetings with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
"I want [the officer] to know what he did was wrong, and that in my opinion he doesn't deserve to ever have a badge and a gun again, because he doesn't know how to handle that responsibility effectively," Blake told the New York Daily News on Saturday. "He doesn't deserve to have the same title as officers who are doing good work and are really helping keep the rest of the city safe."
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Blake, who is black, has stressed that he doesn't see race as the main issue at hand.
"In this incident it was the excessive force that's really the issue, because it was a nonviolent crime," he said. "Even if I was the suspect, this isn’t the way to treat anyone, no matter what."
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