Outside City Hall, Mr. Blake said the incident was still very much on his mind.
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Agree with James Blake?
James Blake, left, and Kevin H. Marino, Blake’s attorney, walk toward members of the media outside City Hall in New York after leaving the building Monday, September 21, 2015.
Blake talked to reporters after meeting with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and police Commissioner William Bratton not just about that incident earlier this month, but about what the city and police department generally can do to prevent the same thing from happening to others. “Go away. We’re not going to talk about this again, ‘” Blake said.
“We’re not looking for a quick lawsuit, we’re not looking for anything that’s going to be a quick and easy solution”, he said. “We’re looking for a lasting, positive impact on the city and on the police force”.
Blake said he, de Blasio and Bratton were on “the same page” about NYPD reforms following the 90-minute, closed-door session at City Hall. He said he had confidence Mayor Bill de Blasio (BLAH’-zee-oh) was making changes that will have a lasting impact. The American was mistaken for a crime suspect and handcuffed and crash tackled by a policeman. Blake is a biracial man who appears dark in complexion; the arresting officer is white. He has had four civilian complaints filed against him since 2013. Blake said the world might not know about his case if he wasn’t in the public eye.
Blake had said the officer should be sacked, but following the meeting he said he understood due process, “the fact that he has rights in the court”.
“I’m willing to respect that, and I’ll be aware of how the trial, how the process takes place”.
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Mr. Blake declined to provide specific talking points from the meeting-he said he didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up about reforms that might not be able to be done quickly or “logistically”-but said the group “made a lot of progress” and that they “were all pleasantly surprised”.
