A RACKET
Tennis star blasts NYPD for slap on wrist
EX-PRO TENNIS star James Blake on Friday slammed the NYPD’s decision to take just five vacation days from a cop who in 2015 mistook him for a criminal and tackled him outside a Midtown hotel.
Blake called Police Commissioner James O’Neill’s ruling in Officer James Frascatore’s case “dysfunctional.”
“The lack of meaningful discipline for the NYPD officer found guilty of using excessive force against me, while I was simply waiting outside of my hotel, is indicative of a broken disciplinary system,” Blake said in a statement released by Communities United for Police Reform.
“Officer Frascatore had a record of misconduct complaints for the abusive treatment of civilians before he bodyslammed me — it was reported that he had five civilian complaints within seven months of 2013. Losing a few vacation days for the use of excessive force, following a history of repeated civilian complaints, is not meaningful discipline.”
Blake’s statement was a response to an exclusive Daily News report that disclosed the penalty, which was lighter than what the recommendation of an independent oversight board.
O’Neill decided Frascatore’s case in February — but the NYPD didn’t disclose his decision it because of a policy established in 2016 to keep disciplinary rulings from the public.
The NYPD’s decision to withhold discipline rulings was based on a new reading of Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, which it says requires secrecy for “records used to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion” of police officers. Before 2016, the NYPD made disciplinary outcomes public.
Civil rights groups went to City Hall Friday to argue that the NYPD policy and state law should be changed to give the public information on police discipline. New York is one of one three states that sharply restrict such data, the activists said.
“The sky is not going to fall if this information is available to the public,” said Cynthia ContiCook of the Legal Aid Society.
O’Neill and Mayor de Blasio have said they are trying to get the law changed in Albany — but state Assemblyman Dan Quart (D-Manhattan) said he hasn’t seen evidence of it.
In response to the Blake article, the NYPD said Thursday, “the Commissioner finalized the case, consistent with the findings and recommendations of the Trial’s Commissioner.” The police declined further comment, citing 50-a.
Frascatore, who was on a stakeout, mistook Blake for a credit-card scammer outside his hotel on Sept. 9, 2015 at Lexington Ave. and E. 42nd St.
Then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor de Blasio apologized for the incident. Blake agreed not to sue the city.
Frascatore remains on desk duty.