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It looks like the NYPD and its overzealousness will be their undoing once more after five white officers allegedly assaulted Black retired tennis star, James Blake. Blake, a former top five world-ranked player, was thrown to the grown violently by the officers and suffered some minor cuts and bruises.

The incident took place Wednesday as Blake was awaiting a ride to head over to the U.S. Open for a corporate event. According to an exclusive interview Blake held with the New York Daily News, Blake was mistaken for another individual in an investigation of a credit card fraud case. Instead of the officers peacefully approaching Blake, he said an officer ran up on him and tackled him to the ground without an explanation or an apology after their gaffe.

The only reason the officers unhanded Blake was that a former officer alerted the NYPD of who Blake was. By then, the damage was done and now the city is hoping to contain the spiraling details of the assault as it investigates the matter internally.

From the New York Daily News:

Blake was waiting for a car taking him to the U.S. Open, where he was making corporate appearances for Time-Warner Cable.

“In my mind there’s probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there’s no reason for anybody to do that to anybody,” Blake said. “You’d think they could say, ‘Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking into something.’ I was just standing there. I wasn’t running. It’s not even close (to be okay). It’s blatantly unnecessary.”

A police source said Blake was misidentified as a suspect wanted for buying a cellphone with a bogus credit card. A man who was standing near Blake was arrested in connection with the scam, police said.

“Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately,” the NYPD said in a statement.

“In regards to the alleged improper use of force, the Police Commissioner directed the internal affairs bureau to investigate.”

Anyone taking bets that those officers will have jobs by the end of the year or, by some miracle, are demoted to jockeying desks?

Photo: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com