John Blake was the tennis star who was “accidentally” slammed to the ground and arrested by the NYPD while standing in front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel earlier this month. He “matched the description” of a dangerous criminal wanted for credit card fraud.
Blake, once ranked the 4th best tennis player in the world, was mistaken for Australian sunglasses designer Sean Satha. You can see both Blake and Satha in the picture below. Blake is on the left and Satha is on the right.
Can anyone tell the very minute difference between these two long lost twin brothers? Here’s a clue. One has a much, much better tan.
But that’s not even the best part of this story. Turns out that Satha is also innocent of the crime the NYPD originally sought him for, which was credit card fraud. In fact, at the time of Blake’s arrest Satha wasn’t even in the country. Furthermore, their suspect, Satha, was actually the victim whose credit card was stolen and used to buy goods online! Woopsie!
So Blake vaguely looked like a suspect wanted for a non-violent crime, and who turns out to be completely innocent. That didn’t stop police from surrounding Blake and assaulting him without so much as asking for his name.
Of course, the NYPD says it’s deeply embarrassed by this and promises to start reforming the way it investigates and questions suspects for non-violent cases. They’ll be looking more closely at ensuring their departments don’t practice racial profiling or any other misleading or discriminatory practices.
Okay that was a lie. In fact the NYPD union chief Patrick Lynch, in an open letter addressed to all of the “arm-chair judges” criticizing this case, said this:
“If you have never struggled with someone who is resisting arrest or who pulled a gun or knife on you when you approached them for breaking a law, then you are not qualified to judge the actions of police officers putting themselves in harm’s way for the public good,” Lynch begins.
Lynch didn’t hold back his contempt for the NYPD critics, borrowing a page from one of the NYPD’s favorite L.E.O sycophants, Sean Hannity. He continues:
“It is mystifying to all police officers to see pundits and editorial writers whose only expertise is writing fast-breaking, personal opinion, and who have never faced the dangers that police officers routinely do, come to instant conclusions that an officer’s actions were wrong based upon nothing but a silent video,” Lynch writes. “That is irresponsible, unjust and un-American.”
I guess “innocent until proven guilty,” doesn’t apply on the mean streets of the posh New York City midtown district. Lynch goes on to say something else even more unbelievable, given the history of overreaction, violence, and corruption within the NYPD. He says:
“Police officers have earned the benefit of the doubt because of the dangers we routinely face,” Lynch says.
Well there you go folks. The next time you are in New York City, and the NYPD assaults you from out of the blue just because you look like a suspect, don’t be a hater. Don’t judge them for doing their job; after all, they have earned the benefit of the doubt when violating you constitutional rights. The suspect in this case may not look like James Blake, but we have a good idea what unrepentant police arrogance looks like don’t we?
Here’s a video on this story.
