CRIME

Ex-tennis pro James Blake: Tackling NYC officer, with history of complaints, should lose job

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Former tennis star James Blake discusses his mistaken arrest by the New York City Police Department during an interview, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in New York. Video surveillance released Friday of the mistaken arrest shows a plainclothes police officer who has a history of excessive-force complaints grabbing Blake by the arm and tackling him to the ground. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) (The Associated Press)

Former tennis star James Blake discusses his mistaken arrest by the New York City Police Department during an interview, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in New York. Video surveillance released Friday of the mistaken arrest shows a plainclothes police officer who has a history of excessive-force complaints grabbing Blake by the arm and tackling him to the ground. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) (The Associated Press)

Former tennis star James Blake discusses his mistaken arrest by the New York City Police Department during an interview, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, in New York. Video surveillance released Friday of the mistaken arrest shows a plainclothes police officer who has a history of excessive-force complaints grabbing Blake by the arm and tackling him to the ground. (AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith) (The Associated Press)

The former tennis star who was tackled during a mistaken arrest by a New York City police officer says the officer involved should lose his job.

James Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that Officer James Frascatore's history of excessive-force complaints means he shouldn't "ever have a badge or a gun again."

Frascatore has been named in several civil lawsuits over excessive force and has been the subject of multiple civilian complaints.

Surveillance video of Blake's arrest Wednesday outside a Manhattan hotel shows Frascatore charge at Blake, grab him by the arm and roughly take him to the ground.

Frascatore has been placed on desk duty. Messages left at a number listed for him and with his police union weren't immediately returned.

The mayor and police commissioner have apologized to Blake.