Plainclothes police Officer James Frascatore put himself in the spotlight when he blindsided former tennis star James Blake in front of a surveillance camera last week and threw him down on a Manhattan sidewalk.
Blake has gone public with the officer tackling him, determined to use his star power to address the issue of police brutality.
The headlines about Blake have brought to light past complaints against Frascatore, who is the defendant in at least four earlier lawsuits alleging excessive use of force. And people who say they were on the receiving end are coming forward with their allegations.
Two plaintiffs, Leroy Cline and Warren Diggs, spoke Monday to CNN’s “New Day.” Both men allege Frascatore beat them without provocation. The show reached out to the New York City Police Department for comment on their allegations but has not heard back.
The city has denied Diggs’ allegations, according to court paperwork. Court records show the city is discussing possible settlements of the two cases.
Allegations of beating
Diggs said he was glad that Blake’s situation has garnered attention. “Now, I get to let my side of the story out,” he said. “It’s a good thing, though it took something bad to happen.”
He alleged Frascatore beat him as he was entering his own home.
Diggs had arrived on his bike and headed for the side door. “I hear somebody say, ‘Where you going?’ ” he said. When he got off his bike and looked up, he saw Frascatore and two more officers in uniform running toward him, he said.
They asked for his ID; he told them it was in his house and offered to get the ID.
Diggs said he told the officers which pocket his key was in, removed it slowly where they could see it and turned the lock on his door. Just as he started to step into the house, Frascatore allegedly grabbed him. Another officer held his arm, and Frascatore allegedly punched him in the head, Diggs said.
A different officer threw him to the ground, and Frascatore continued beating him, Diggs alleges.
Cline pulled over
Cline said he was not surprised when he heard about Blake being tackled.
“He went overboard,” Cline said. “Exactly what he did to me he did to the superstar tennis player.”
Cline said Frascatore pulled him over in traffic and asked for his license and registration. “Where I’m from, I get pulled over a lot,” Cline said, “so this time I decided to ask, ‘What am I being pulled over for?’ ”
Frascatore wouldn’t tell him, Cline said, and when Cline repeatedly asked, the officer allegedly reached into the car to unlock the door and tried to pull Cline out. When Cline flinched back, Frascatore allegedly punched him three times in the mouth.
Cline let out a scream, and the officer and his partner allegedly removed him from the car, banged his head against the hood, handcuffed him and loosened the string holding up his short pants. The shorts dropped to his ankles, Cline said.
Both Cline and Diggs allege Frascatore later tried to cover up what happened.
Race a factor?
The question of race came up shortly after Blake’s tackling. Blake is biracial, and Frascatore is white. Cline and Diggs are African-American.
Frascatore was named in a third lawsuit that alleges he and other officers and sergeants abused and unlawfully arrested a man in a deli in Queens in May 2013. The suit claims that the officers assaulted the man while calling him a racial epithet.
The city has denied the charges in an answer to the complaint, according to court paperwork.
Frascatore was also named in a fourth lawsuit, stemming from an incident that took placed in June 2013, in which a man named Samuel Pringle alleges that Frascatore and other officers assaulted him and “intentionally, wantonly, maliciously and falsely prosecuted plaintiff for several criminal charges.”
Police Commissioner William Bratton has insisted race didn’t play a role in the Blake case. “I don’t believe that race was a factor,” Bratton said. “This rush to put a race tag on it, I’m sorry, that’s not involved in this at all.”
Police have said Blake unfortunately looked like one of the suspects whom officers had come to arrest at the hotel.
The tackle
On Wednesday, Blake was waiting in front of the Hyatt Grand Hotel for a car to take him to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, when he’s been making corporate appearances.
Surveillance video released by New York police showed him casually leaning against a column when Frascatore rushed into the frame, tackled Blake and cuffed his wrists behind his back.
Frascatore showed no badge and didn’t say what he wanted. When the officer grabbed him, Blake acted passive and let it the takedown happen.
“If I had (offered) any sort of resistance, I wonder what could have happened. I could have broken bones, a concussion or worse,” Blake said.
Identity theft ring
For the next 10 to 15 minutes he was detained, Blake said neither Frascatore nor other officers identified themselves as police. (Bratton said that Blake was actually on the ground and handcuffed for less than a minute before being brought back up to his feet.)
Then a retired police officer recognized Blake and told the officers who he was. Moments later, they released him.
Police said they had received a photo from a credit card company of an individual who looked like Blake and was identified as a suspect. But that individual is innocent, and police are not identifying him.
Frascatore and his colleagues then arrested targets they suspected of abusing credit cards to purchase expensive items — both British nationals. Neither looked like Blake.
Patrick Lynch, head of the police union, defended Frascatore’s tackle. The mistaken identity was an honest error and the takedown was also done professionally, he said.
“The apprehension was made under fluid circumstances where the subject might have fled,” Lynch said in a statement.
Apology not enough
New York City Bill de Blasio and Bratton, the commissioner, called Blake to apologize. Blake said he appreciated the apologies, but they weren’t enough for him.
“I’ve gotten emails and texts from people that tell me, ‘This happened to me. This happened to my friend, my father, my brother,’ ” he said. “None of them get public apologies. They deserve the same treatment I’m getting.”
Blake wants Frascatore fired; so do Cline and Warren. Their attorneys want to see him prosecuted.
Police have assigned the officer to desk duty.
New York’s mayor, meanwhile, pledged Monday that action will be taken — if not in this particular case, than generally in retraining city police officers on how to interact with the public.
“The challenge is not new; it is decades old,” de Blasio said. “We want to get ahead of the challenge and fix it going forward.”
