By Marcus Brown
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In a case of tragic mistaken identity, retired professional tennis player James Blake was brutally arrested by plainclothes NYPD Officer James Frascatore on Sept. 9 due to suspected involvement in a ring of credit-card scammers. The former No. 4 tennis player in the world was waiting to be picked up by a car outside of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan when Frascatore tackled Blake to the ground without warning or verification of his identity as a police officer.
Apparently, Blake had a close resemblance to an unnamed suspect who was later found to be innocent as well. This incident brings up the same arguments the country has been grappling with as of recently in terms of police brutality. Ignoring the possible racial aspects, the time has come again to evaluate the manner in which we respond to oversteps in authority by those entrusted to protect us.
Blake has retained the option to pursue legal action against the NYPD for the brutality he faced at their hands but has acknowledged reluctance because he does not want the incident to be simply swept under the rug by a settlement. The trend of simply paying for the mistakes made by law enforcement after the fact does nothing to address the actual issue. Looking at the trends of settlements, one would be led to believe that a life is worth somewhere between $5 million and $6 million. However, that is not the case. A human life is not something to simply be written off as a cost of doing business, and by business, I mean perpetuating a system that results in citizens living in fear of an institution meant to protect them.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 10 of the largest police departments across 10 cities in the U.S paid out “$284.7 million last year in settlements and court judgments” with a collective grand total of “$1.02 billion” over the course of five years. Unfortunately, these staggering numbers more than likely will not prove to be enough of an incentive to trigger the widespread and systematic reform needed all across the country. I’ve been told it is only a crime if you get caught, but as of recently it would seem like it is only a crime if you had to pay a few million dollars for it.
Blake has expressed interest in using this unfortunate event to escape the routine of scapegoating a specific officer or officers for the crimes that are undoubtedly committed on much larger scales, then paying copious amounts of money to maintain the illusion that some semblance of justice has been carried out. The cycle must be broken. We must get out of the habit of trying to accommodate and accept mistakes made after the fact and instead focus on prevention.
