The New York Police Department is investigating an episode in which James Blake, a retired top-10 professional tennis player, said he was thrown to the ground at his hotel by a police officer on Wednesday and handcuffed by several officers who had mistaken him for a suspect in a fraudulent credit card operation.
Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said in an interview on Wednesday on NY1 that Mr. Blake’s account was “very disturbing.”
“He has a right to be upset about it,” Mr. Bratton said.
Mr. Blake, 35, who retired two years ago and was in town making appearances for corporate sponsors at the United States Open, was leaving the Grand Hyatt Hotel on East 42nd Street for the Open around noon when he was accosted by a plainclothes officer, he said in an interview with The Daily News.