-James Blake is a legendary tennis player,
and in 2015, he had a run-in with the police
that he wants to talk about.
And it's pretty amazing what he went through.
And I'm so happy that he's talking about it.
Here's my conversation with James Blake.
James Blake, thank you so much for being here
and coming back to our show.
I know we're Zooming, but this still counts as you coming here.
A lot of people are happy to see you.
So, thank you very much for taking the time.
-Yeah, thanks for having me on again.
-Well, I'd like to hear your perspective
on what's been going on for the past couple weeks
in this country.
I know you have a personal story,
because I was in New York --
I think your incident happened in New York, correct?
-Yeah, that was in 2015.
I was there for the U.S. Open.
I was retired, but I was doing some
corporate sponsor appearances and stuff,
and I had just flown in that morning
and was waiting for the car to take me to the Open
and just waiting outside my hotel
when an officer ran up and just ran into me,
slammed me into the wall and threw me on the ground,
handcuffed me and had me in custody for 10 to 15 minutes
without me doing anything.
And I was standing there, just getting ready to go to the Open,
and they said I looked like a suspect.
Turns out the suspect was for a credit-card scam
they were running, nothing violent.
No reason, in my opinion, to necessarily tackle someone.
-I know you've been on the show a few times.
I know you outside the show. You're a pretty big guy.
I wouldn't think to run into you and try to take you down.
-Yeah, he was -- I like to think I'm a big guy.
I don't know. For a tennis player, at least.
But he was a much bigger guy.
He was probably about 220,
definitely probably been in the gym a bit.
And he was looking to use that force.
-And he threw you on the ground,
and your head is against the ground, or...?
-He had me down, with my face in the pavement,
and he put his knee in my back and was cuffing me.
And the first thing he said is, "Shut your mouth.
Put your arms back." And the first thing I said --
'Cause now, at this point, within a split second,
it goes from, "I think this is gonna be a friendly encounter,"
to I'm on the ground, face on the ground,
getting handcuffed.
At that point, it's 2015.
There was still already plenty of signs in the media,
plenty of cases of police violence,
of black men and women being killed or harmed by the police.
So my first thought is back to the conversation
I had with my dad, back to all those incidents.
My first statement is, "I'm complying 100%.
Whatever you say, I'm complying 100%."
Because I know I don't want to be a stat,
and everything else can be figured out afterwards.
Any legal battles, anything that they're --
mistaken identity, whatever it is, can be figured out later.
But you just comply because --
And it's a really sad situation, it's a sad state of affairs
that there has to be that set of rules,
and every black man in this country pretty much knows those,
that you have to be completely emasculated,
you have to do whatever they say.
For the next 10, 15 minutes, they're standing there,
acting pretty rude and just kind of dismissive of me.
They just weren't believing me until someone luckily --
I think they probably googled me or something,
and the guy's looking at his phone and looking at me
and saying, "I think we maybe made a mistake."
It's just really sad.
-Did you ever get an apology or anything from the officer?
-No. The officer never apologized.
The only thing he said, as he let me go,
was that the person they're looking for
is still in the area, which doesn't have any effect on me.
I got an apology from de Blasio,
an apology from the police commissioner
when they realized what had happened,
and they realized there was a video out there.
But never an apology from him.
And in terms of, like, trying to get justice, I tried so hard.
I mean, this is why
I'm so encouraged right now by today's events.
I screamed and yelled.
For two years it took for me to get any sort of a trial,
internal trial, against this police officer,
to try to get any sort of accountability.
And all he lost was five vacation days for this.
And it was his fifth incident.
He had had four others, all against African-American men.
One of them, he broke a guy's jaw.
And he lost five vacation days.
And they said that he couldn't be fired
'cause it's just not fair, because the precedent
before this, for cases like this, weren't that strict.
That's where it just needs to be changed.
And that's why I'm so encouraged by the fact
that more and more people are realizing
that this accountability is a joke.
It took two years of them trying to delay it,
trying to make it so that I couldn't be there,
making excuse after excuse, and then he still got barely --
in my opinion -- a slap on the wrist.
-What was the first thing you did?
Did you call your wife? -Yeah.
So, I got in the car, called my wife, and I --
Being an athlete and someone who wanted to
try to be a tough guy, I told her what happened,
she was immediately freaked out,
and I just said, "You know what?
It's no big deal. I'm gonna be okay.
I'm not gonna say anything about this."
And her first genuine response is,
"What if this happened to me?
What if this happened to anyone else you loved or cared about?"
And that's when -- I mean,
it was like a light switch went off in my head --
"I can't stay silent. I can't say nothing.
I can't just be a tough guy and say nothing happened to me."
So I went to the press later that day,
and I'm really happy she said that.
I'm really happy I listened to her.
-Yeah. -It makes sense.
since I'm married to her. -Smart.
-But, yeah, it just made sense that I had to say something.
Then, I went to the media,
and it opened my eyes to a lot of things.
'Cause if I hadn't gone to the media,
I realized that none of those officers filed a report,
so nothing would have happened,
they never would've said anything,
that there was any sort of incident,
any sort of occurrence.
And If I wasn't who I was and had the ability
to go to the media,
if I'm James Blake, the accountant,
going off to my 9:00-to-5:00
and I didn't have the wherewithal
to get their badge numbers, their names, which I didn't do,
and I think of myself as someone pretty calm
and collected under pressure -- I didn't think to do that.
So the only way I was able to do that was going to the media.
And so I realized I had to do something
that's going to help others in this situation and not just me,
because I'm lucky enough to have the voice that I have.
-How do you feel to know that the four officers
were charged with the murder of George Floyd?
-You know, I've been through a pretty big
roller coaster of emotions since this happened,
as I'm sure a lot of people in the country have
and especially his family.
That was my first thought was sadness for his family
and for his friends and other victims.
But that night, I went to bed just so discouraged
and just thinking how sad it was.
And when I woke up in the morning --
I didn't sleep very much.
That's actually when I wrote an op-ed,
just 'cause I started -- my mind was racing,
and I wanted to just write something.
But I was so encouraged by the fact that people cared.
People really in this country have not become
totally desensitized, they haven't become numb to this.
And to see that the protest happened so quickly,
so genuinely, and that they got results,
immediate results, I don't know if those
four officers would've been charged
if it wasn't for the protests.
Because this has happened so many times,
so many other cases have happened like this,
where no criminal charges, maybe they get slaps on the wrist,
or maybe they get transferred to another precinct
or they lose their job but then they can get
another job at another precinct.
But to get criminal charges is huge.
And that's a big step in the right direction
for accountability.
And I think it shows that people caring
and the majority that actually cares in this country,
can make a difference when they speak loudly enough.
And they can protest right now.
That makes a huge difference.
I hope the momentum carries on,
that they realize they can make a difference right now
and look at what they're doing.
They're increasing the accountability.
And the next best chance they have for accountability
and for helping this country is in November when they can vote.
And vote for representatives that can actually speak
to what you believe, what you want to happen.
And don't get discouraged by what we saw yesterday
in voting lines, and bring a book.
Bring your iPad, bring something to do,
'cause you might be sitting there for a long time.
But go out and vote and vote for people
that are gonna make a difference.
You know, we're appealing laws.
The defunding of police is something that sounds scary,
but it's more like shifting funds, not defunding,
and making it so that it's safer for all of us.
-Yeah. James, I'm so thankful
that you came on and told your story.
Millions of people are going to appreciate this.
Thank you for doing this.
I'm gonna keep continuing to have these conversations
and anything.
You know, hopefully change is gonna come from this.
-Yeah. Thank you for doing this.
Thank you for using your show.
I've always been a fan just because it's funny
and because you're great. You're an unbelievable talent.
But you're also someone that cares
and has such a great heart.
So thank you for doing this, Jimmy.
-You rock, bud. And hug those kids for me.
-Absolutely. Same to you. -Bye, bud.