Chapter 4
Standing Up to Police Brutality Matters
It was my junior year in high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was on my way to a basketball game against one of our biggest rivals, Central High School. One of my AAU teammates, Demarco Hawkins, played on Central and for two weeks had been talking noise about how they were going to beat us. I was driving in my maroon 1978 Monte Carlo. I was proud of my car. My dad had bought it for me the summer before and I had saved up so I could get it painted, tint the windows, and install a new stereo system. It had whitewall tires and I kept them clean. That was “The Carlo.”
So I’m driving down Pine Street and I see flashing lights in my rearview mirror. I looked at my speedometer to see if I was speeding—I wasn’t. (I was and still am notorious for driving slow. My grandmother always tells me that I drive like an old person.) I checked to see if I had my seat belt on, which I did. I hadn’t violated any law. I pulled over. Sirens blazing and lights flashing, the policeman just sat there. Then the backup car came. Then the backup to the backup. I heard a tap on my window. The policeman asked me to step out of my vehicle.
I asked, “Do you want to see my license and registration?”
He replied in a very sharp tone, “I ask the questions and give the orders here, boy, you just do as you’re told.”
I looked at him confused, but I obeyed his orders. He told me to sit on the curb and hand over my license and asked if my registration was in the glove compartment. I gave him my license and told him, “Yes, it is, but don’t you need a warrant or something to be able to search my glove compartment?” He looked back at me with eyes that could kill, so I just turned away and shut my mouth.
As they searched my car, then huddled and talked, I heard one of them say, “I have seen his face before. I’m almost positive it was from a mug shot. Let’s review some of these books and see if it matches. Are you running his plates? He’s clean? I have seen him somewhere, I’m sure of it.”
I glanced over and saw one policeman standing to the side, not conferring with the group. His main concern was obviously me and only me. He had his hand a few inches from his hip like one of those old Wild West movies when they are waiting to see who draws first.
To this day, I can vividly see the cars passing by, their drivers rubbernecking. I saw people looking at me and shaking their heads; I remember one little girl peering at me through the back window of her family’s vehicle. I was embarrassed.
Forty-five minutes of this went by—them checking, huddling, talking—all while I am sitting on the curb like a criminal. I wasn’t handcuffed, but I still knew better than to even think about making any sudden movements.
Then I heard one of them say, “Wait a minute, I know where you probably saw him and he had my gym bag in his hand. He plays basketball.” See, they had seen my face in the papers but they thought they had seen me in a mug shot. So all seven of them started to go back to their cars, except for one guy who came over to me. “You’re free to go, stay out of trouble,” he said, patting me on the shoulder. I thought to myself, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!! That’s an apology? No “I’m sorry for treating you like a criminal for almost an hour”? “For having you on the curb, embarrassing you in front of all these people”? “For wasting your time and making you late for your game”? “For dehumanizing you”? Nothing? I looked over my shoulder and saw the same policeman who had been focused on me before. He had not moved. He was obviously waiting to see what my reaction was going to be. I wanted to cuss out every last one of them. I wanted to call them every name I could think of. I wanted to go off. But I didn’t. Had I had chosen differently, I probably would not be writing this right now. I probably would not be here.
Driving to my game, I was so mad. I was late. Walked in while coach was giving the speech. Didn’t say a word to anyone. Put on my uniform. Played like a man possessed. Dunked the ball every time I touched it. Blocked every shot. Fouled hard anyone who came close to me. After the game, I walked straight to the locker room, changed my clothes, and went home. Didn’t really say anything to anyone.
My phone was ringing off the hook that evening. Me and my brother had our own phone line in the house and I told him to take the phone off the hook for the night. I remember replaying what happened in my head almost all night. Lying there, just me and my cat Gingy. It was like she could sense something was wrong. I remember her massaging my shoulders, which is something she did, and purring as if she was trying to calm me down. I remember lying in bed, my heart racing, and seeing the cops’ faces in my mind. Them huddled up, talking. The one cop with his hand close to his holstered gun on his hip. The little girl looking at me through the back window. The nosy people shaking their heads as they passed by. Before I knew it, the sun was coming up and it was time to get up and get ready for school.
I remember being in speech-and-debate class the next day and talking to a girl I called Little Brandy. I remember just venting. Telling her what happened. What I should’ve told those cops. How could they do me like that? Treating me like a criminal. I had rights, they can’t just hem somebody up like that with no probable cause. My speech-and-debate teacher, Mr. Bland, pulled me into his office. He listened to me vent—didn’t interrupt, just listened. And after I was done, he said something that would change my life: “You should put all of that anger, all of that hurt, all of that passion, into a speech.”
“A speech?” I replied. “Man, I’m not thinking about writing no dag gum speech, right now I’m pissed.”
“This is the perfect way for you to express yourself. This could be your original oratory. You’re always going around here quoting Malcolm X, even when Malcolm X has nothing to do with the conversation or the topic. This could be your chance to speak on a topic that you are passionate about, like Malcolm X did.”
Well, that was the selling point for me and that’s exactly what I did. I went home that night and wrote the speech Mr. Bland told me to write. I told the story of how I was treated by the police. I told how I felt. I talked about stereotypes, perception, racism, prejudice. I talked about how whenever I went down to Woodland Hills Mall I was followed around in the stores. I talked about white people crossing the street when I walked by or locking their doors. I talked about being treated like a criminal even though I had done nothing wrong. I put all of my anger and frustration and passion into the speech just as Mr. Bland told me to do.
I started performing the speech at different speech tournaments around Tulsa, and I was winning. A lot. I won regionals, districts, state. Started going to national tournaments. Made it to the final round at Harvard University where I was competing against students from Ivy League prep schools from around the country. Many at first looked at me like I didn’t belong there, but after they heard my speech they shook my hand and thanked me. So while Booker T. was winning state basketball championships back to back in 1995 and 1996, we also won the state championship in speech-and-debate. The newspapers picked up the story. I had a spread on the front page of the sports section in the Tulsa World. “More Than an Athlete,” the headline read.
The Tulsa Police Department sent me a letter apologizing for what happened and saying they would do an internal investigation. Now, I don’t know if anything ever came from that, but just the fact that they acknowledged it was a huge step for me at sixteen years old. I had found my voice. It was at that point that I realized this basketball thing was something I could use to my benefit. People would listen just because of the fact that I played basketball. I had access to the media. I could talk about issues like Malcolm X did. I could raise awareness, and I had to thank Mr. Bill Bland for opening my eyes to that.
Interview with Russell Westbrook
In light of how personal the Terence Crutcher case was to me, I was so pleased to see so many athletes speaking out about the murder. Athletes from all over the country voiced their disapproval:
Rajon Rondo: Tell me this, how does an unarmed black man whose car is stalled and needs help get shot and killed by police officers, while the NY and NJ bombing suspect who actually shot at police officers gets apprehended and is alive? I guess being black is worse than being a terrorist.
Dwyane Wade: We must come together MORE! We must show our strength as a Black Community MORE! Or we will continue to wake up to stories of US being shot down like WE don’t matter. We must show that we matter to each other MORE! We must all do MORE! #TERENCECRUTCHER #WEAREMORE
Iman Shumpert: Take a good look at my daughter Iman Tayla Shumpert Jr. The moment she was born was the day I saw the world a lot different. All day I wonder how can I raise her the right way and teach her the right lessons. I can’t explain to her what’s going on these days between the badge and the people. The badge was made to protect us, not scare us. #stealthefear #stealfear #weprayforpeace
Through watery eyes, Tiffany Crutcher had explained to me how much it meant for players like Russell Westbrook to speak out on her brother’s behalf. Even though Westbrook was an NBA superstar, an MVP candidate, an icon, he took the time to speak out passionately—and he did so in very conservative and pro–Betty Shelby, pro-police Oklahoma.
I played with Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2010. I have seen him grow and mature. When I was there, some of those guys were young kids. It was James Harden’s rookie year. He actually came up to me the first day, shook my hand, and said, “Nice to meet you, sir. I grew up watching you play.” I was like, “You grew up watching me play? I’m not that old.”
Westbrook was talented, but young. Very young. So when I saw a press conference in September 2016 at which he spoke with fervor and fire about the Terence Crutcher murder, I felt proud. I caught up with him soon after that.
Etan: After Terence Crutcher was killed by the Tulsa police, you came out immediately and expressed your outrage and disapproval.
Russell Westbrook: I think it’s important as an athlete, and specifically as a Black athlete, to be able to support something like this. To be able to support a family that’s in need. I don’t have an answer; in fact, nobody has an answer. If they did, we would be able to fix it, but somebody has to figure out something because this can’t continue to happen like this.
Etan: Were you worried about any backlash from people who had a different opinion or just didn’t like that you spoke up against this?
Westbrook: Not at all. I think that as an athlete and having the platform that I have, I have the courage and the confidence to be able to speak out and not worry about the backlash, to stand by what I stand for no matter who disagrees with me or not.
Etan: Did you receive any backlash?
Westbrook: Not that I saw, but I was definitely ready and prepared for any that would’ve come my way or any questions that the media would ask me about the situation, because it was a horrible situation and I definitely stand by everything I said.
Etan: Have any higher-ups ever told you not to be vocal or speak out on potentially divisive or controversial issues?
Westbrook: Definitely . . . but I was brought up a little differently, me growing up in the inner city, and for me to have experienced and seen some of those things day in and day out and night in and night out, this really hit home for me. I felt it was important for me to step up and say some things that I felt needed to be said, and by someone who has the platform that I have. Something has to change. So I’m going to use my voice as much as possible to be able to relay that message.
Etan: I guess I can understand some agents being overly cautious, but it really depends on the particular CEO for the particular team. Here with the Thunder, for instance, y’all have Ayana [Lawson, director of player services], who is absolutely great in community relations, and you have general manager Sam Presti, who at least from what I experienced is nothing but supportive of athletes using their voices . . . Does having that type of a supportive team help in you being so comfortable and willing to speak out?
Westbrook: Yeah, it definitely does help, but I wasn’t really thinking about all of that at the time. I was just saying what was on my heart.
Etan: Did you get a chance to meet the Crutcher family? I saw that y’all wore the TC on your warm-up shirts, which I know the family really appreciated.
Westbrook: I think it’s important. A lot of people don’t think about the families when something like this happens. The children, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, cousins. I think it’s really important that we think about how the family feels, because they are the ones who lost their loved one in a horrific way. It’s important for us to be able to support a family in need the way they are right now. I can’t even imagine the pain and everything they’re going through. It’s important for us to show them that we support them, have their back, and represent the family, because we know it’s a tough time for them and for Tulsa.
I cannot tell you how many TV and radio shows have invited me to appear in order to criticize athletes for not speaking out on crucial social issues. These critiques of athletes are not new. They have been articulated for years—in barbershops, bars, on social media, in various articles and blogs, from the everyday fan to the most celebrated scholars. But many are misguided and inaccurate.
What happened in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014, was another catastrophe that affected so many people, including athletes, and especially those with kids. The death of Mike Brown, the young Black unarmed teen who was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, was a national tragedy.
According to a preliminary autopsy report, Brown was shot a total of six times—twice in the head and four times in the arms. Many questioned how someone could be struck in their right palm unless their hands were up. In addition, why would a police officer shoot someone in the top of the head . . . and then leave him lying dead in the street for hours? Some view the shooting as a public execution.
This is a parent’s worst nightmare. Couple this with the apparent mishandling of the situation by the St. Louis Police Department. Wilson wasn’t being charged with anything, but was put on paid administrative leave in an undisclosed location. This resulted in two weeks of unrest; police clashed with demonstrators in what resembled a war zone in a foreign country.
People were simply searching for answers, but couldn’t find any. An entire community hadn’t had the chance to breathe following the Eric Garner choking incident by the NYPD. Many were still healing from the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, and countless others. On August 14, 2014, USA Today released FBI statistics that confirmed racial disparities in police shootings across the United States over a period of seven years. Data showed that a white police officer killed a Black person nearly two times a week in the United States, which was more than twice the rate of young white people killed by police. Nearly 18 percent of the Black victims were under the age of twenty-one.
President Barack Obama addressed the nation on the tragedy of Mike Brown’s death, the violence that had occurred, and the overall issues that needed to be addressed—which included excessive police force and the people’s right to assemble peacefully. He condemned those breaking the law, reassured them that he understood their frustrations, promised that he was doing everything he could to bring about justice, and spoke to the overarching issue: “In too many communities . . . too many young men of color are left behind and seen only as objects of fear.”
Countless athletes—and entertainers, rappers, activists, authors, journalists—stood in solidarity with Brown and the people of Ferguson, and used their positions and their platforms to voice their disapproval and push for justice.
A group of players from the Washington NFL team (and, yes, I am referring to them that way for a specific reason—out of respect for Native American people), in a show of solidarity before their preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, entered the field through the tunnel with their hands up, referencing how Mike Brown reportedly had his hands raised in surrender when he was killed.
Wide receiver Pierre Garçon posted a photo on Instagram of himself and over a dozen other players from Washington with their hands up in the submission pose. He included the caption: #HandsUpDontShoot We are all #MikeBrown.
Kobe Bryant tweeted a link to an ABC news story about racial tensions in Ferguson. Allen Iverson tweeted a link to an Instagram post of him wearing a T-shirt that read, Mike Brown.
Garçon and his teammates had the courage and felt the responsibility to stand up for what they thought was right. The significance of the public demonstrations of solidarity by the entire secondary of the Washington football team and many other athletes should not be minimized. They are carrying on a great tradition of athletes and activism, and I applaud them for that.
Around this time, I was also very interested in what NFL wide receiver Anquan Boldin was doing with criminal justice reform. I saw him testifying to Congress on different occasions and was part of a coalition of athletes he brought together at the Players’ Tribune offices in November 2016, in order to further the discussion on how we can affect change by utilizing our voices, our positions, and our platforms. What really impressed me was everyone’s passion for bringing about real change. And not simply by raising awareness—which, don’t get me wrong, is very important too—but by actually pushing for laws to be passed that directly address myriad topics under the umbrella of criminal justice reform. After the meeting, I caught up with Anquan and asked him about his passion around this issue and what he planned to do next.
Etan: Talk to me about when you testified in front of Congress about criminal justice reform and how that whole process started.
Anquan Boldin: It started when I did some work with Oxfam. My second trip with them was to Senegal. The problem in Senegal was that people were being taken advantage of as far as mining. The laws were so corrupt, it literally made me sick to my stomach to learn the details of what was going on . . . So I had a chance to testify before Congress about that, and we were able to get a number of mining laws changed . . . So doing that gave me the chance to see just how powerful an athlete’s voice really is.
Etan: What happened to push you to go into criminal justice reform?
Boldin: Well, my cousin was killed by a police officer. He was in a church band, and he was coming home from a gig, and his car broke down on the side of the road. He was on the phone with roadside assistance, and this officer pulled up in an unmarked vehicle. He was dressed in jeans, white T-shirt, and a hat. So he pulls up, he doesn’t know the call is being recorded because my cousin is on the phone with roadside assistance and they record all of their calls . . . He asks my cousin, “Hey, is everything good?” And my cousin is like, “Yeah, I’m good, I’m on the phone with roadside assistance.” The cop says, “Are you sure?” My cousin responds, “Yeah, everything is good.” He says it again, “Are you sure?” Then the only thing you hear is, POP POP POP. And then a couple minutes later you hear three more shots—POP POP POP. And he tried to act like my cousin was trying to escape from him or whatever, but my cousin was already dead. And the lady on roadside assistance just starts screaming, “Oh my God, what happened? Oh my God!”
So, that’s what started me off on social activism and fighting for criminal justice reform—because what happened to my cousin had happened to a lot of different people. We never received justice for him killing my cousin. The officer is on house arrest. Still hasn’t actually gone to trial. So I don’t want for any other family to have to go through what my family has had to go through. I had a chance to testify before Congress about changes that needed to be made . . . And this second time I went, I wanted to take some guys with me. So I took Malcolm Jenkins, Andrew Hawkins, Josh McCown, Glover Quin, and Donté Stallworth . . . These were guys that I knew were well-respected in the league, and had been doing a lot of work in their communities. I wanted to bring guys who were serious about this work and also guys who didn’t know how powerful their voices were. I wanted to show them the entire process and experience that I had with Oxfam America and the effectiveness of using my voice. We went in and got meetings with different congressmen and senators and were able to make an actual difference and get laws changed. That’s power.
Etan: What has the reception been as you have come across different guys and have been showing them exactly what they can accomplish and achieve?
Boldin: A lot of guys were very surprised. They just didn’t know that this was possible—to dialogue with actual lawmakers about making changes to the police system as a whole. We want to figure out ways to cut down on recidivism, which is a huge problem and a tremendous issue. Job training, rehabilitation, education. We wanted to come up with tangible solutions. Not just voice our concerns or tell sad stories, which everyone had, but we wanted results, and we got them. And out of that, we have built a coalition of athletes who are willing to come forth. There is so much curiosity.
Etan: Talk to me about Josh McCown. People know him as an NFL veteran, currently quarterback for the New York Jets, but they don’t know his passion for this other work. And with him being a white player, it adds a different dynamic to everything.
Boldin: Josh isn’t just another player to me, he’s more of a brother . . . Now, bigger than me and him and our friendship is the issue at hand. So the public isn’t solely hearing Black athletes discussing the unfair treatment in the criminal justice department and the need for police reform . . . Now you are hearing a white athlete speak on the same issues and fighting for justice right along with us. He will be able to reach certain demographics . . . whose ears are automatically going to be closed when they see a bunch of Black NFL players discussing police brutality and pushing for criminal justice reform. That’s just a fact. And he knows this and discusses why that fact frustrates him as well, so I am really glad that he has joined us.
Etan: Do these topics divide the locker room?
Boldin: (Laughing) Of course you will get different opinions and different positions even within the racial dynamics. But the reality is, some guys on both sides just don’t want to get involved. They don’t want to talk about it . . . And I can respect that, because this isn’t for everybody. You have to have this passion in you.
Etan: Talk to me about the players coalition. Your numbers are growing of like-minded NFL players who are focused on using their influence to push political leaders to make legislative and policy changes. Really great work you all are doing. What are some of the changes you want to bring about?
Boldin: In a perfect world, it would be equal across the board for everybody. The only way I truly see that happening is if you get man’s heart to change . . . The only person who can do that is God. So where do we go from there? I think you have to deal with the laws that are in place that are discriminating against certain types of people. So that’s the endgame for me . . .
So particulars: one of the things we have been pushing with criminal justice reform are mandatory minimums. Guys are getting these long extended sentences for drug-related offenses and that is just unbelievable to me. You now have guys sitting in jail for drugs longer than guys who have murdered someone in cold blood. That’s absurd. And we’re talking about nonviolent drug offenses . . . small amounts of drugs.
The way that has affected the African American community is just unreal. You have these guys locked up for decades, you have kids growing up in single-parent homes, you take the man out of the home, it’s a ripple-down effect. Another thing we are trying to get changed is . . . for-profit prisons. This only leads to quotas being met by police officers in an attempt to keep prisons at capacity. I mean, how ridiculous is that? And then there’s the recidivism. For guys who have been locked up, once they get out of prison, what do they have to fall back on? How do you reenter them into society?
We are also fighting to reform juvenile justice and end police brutality and racial bias in police departments. But criminal justice reform you can hit from so many different angles, because so much is wrong with it. And it hurts my heart to see so many of us—meaning Black and Brown people—being affected by this unjust system. So if we don’t fight for it, who will?
Enter James Blake. In August 2015, the former pro tennis player was standing in front of the Grand Hyatt in New York City, minding his own business, waiting for a car to pick him up and take him to the US Open tournament, when he was mistakenly tackled and handcuffed by plainclothes NYPD officer James Frascatore.
I remember seeing this story on the news and thinking to myself how great it was that he was using the fact that he was an athlete, and had access to the media, to tell everyone exactly what had happened to him. In June 2017, he published the book Ways of Grace: Stories of Activism, Adversity, and How Sports Can Bring Us Together, and more than two years after suffering the police harassment, his ongoing court case against them remains a national news story. This all takes me back to my own incident with the police while I was in high school, so I appreciated the opportunity to speak with Blake.
Etan: Take us back to what happened to you in New York.
James Blake: I was standing there waiting for my car to take me to the Open and it was a little strange because I had just received an e-mail through my website from an old friend who I was actually on the wrestling team with in high school, and we had this great exchange . . . Then I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye, running toward me, and he kind of looked like the guy I went to school with. He had a similar build and similar-shaped head, so I was thinking, Wait a minute, is this him? So I was actually smiling as the person was running toward me, but I quickly realized this wasn’t someone who was coming for a friendly encounter or a high school buddies’ reunion. I remember seeing the guy running toward me split the two doormen and I thought that was kind of weird. Why wouldn’t he just go around them if he was joking around? It seemed kind of rude to just run right through them, and then of course five seconds later he picks me up and slams me to the ground. I had no idea what was going on, and I am so thankful now I get choked up sometimes just talking about it, because the whole thing could’ve been so much worse.
I didn’t fight back or anything. I was so startled I didn’t do anything. And he never identified himself as an officer or said “NYPD” or anything, but of course once he pulled out the handcuffs, I put two and two together . . . He screamed, “Keep your mouth shut!” and that was it.
I said, “I am complying with whatever you say 100 percent.”
So he picked me up, put me in cuffs, and walked me ten or fifteen yards down the street, and I remember being completely baffled . . . I remember trying to communicate the fact that they definitely had the wrong person, and I said, “I don’t know who you are looking for or what you are looking for, but it definitely doesn’t have anything to do with me. If you want to tell me what you’re looking for, I’ll dispel it very quickly.” They asked for my ID, and I told them where it was, and I told them, “The other thing you might want is my US Open credentials in my back pocket, because that’s where I was going, so you can check that out if you want to find out what I am doing here in New York.”
Now, the cop that did this to me just kept saying, “Okay, we’ll see, we’ll see,” very dismissive. Then one of the cops asked me if I was working at the US Open and I said no, I was actually a player and I was going for an event there. They never took my badge or looked at it in any way, but they eventually told me that they had information that someone had been delivering things to me for the last two weeks or the last three weeks, and I said, “Well, let’s go up to my hotel right now and I can show you my plane ticket, because I just got in this morning on the red-eye.”
They kept just being dismissive and repeating, “We’ll see, we’ll see.” So the fifth officer on the scene, which I believe was the highest-ranking officer, he started actually talking to me like a normal human being and . . . actually appeared at least to be listening to what I was saying. He kept looking at his phone, then looking at me, and I don’t know if he was looking at Google Images or if someone had sent him a picture of who they were looking for or something to do with my ID, but he kept looking a little confused like he was thinking that something was not right here. He was the only one who actually apologized. None of the other ones did . . .
And I realized how incredibly shaken I was, because I didn’t even think to get anyone’s badge number or anyone’s name or anything like that. I was just lucky that I had the resources I had to get a lawyer and have someone look into it, and I was unbelievably lucky that there was video of it, because if there wasn’t it would’ve been my word against theirs and five cops would’ve said the exact same thing, that nothing happened, because before they knew there was a video, they put out a statement saying they were looking into the matter, and it only lasted less than a minute and they were not even sure if I was actually in handcuffs.
Etan: So they weren’t taking any responsibility for what happened?
Blake: No, so I was really lucky that there was a video, and we found that out after I decided to go to the press. The interesting thing about that is the only reason I even decided to go to the press is after I spoke to my wife, she said, “What if that had happened to me?” You go through, you’re a big boy, an athlete, you can handle it, take everything on your shoulders, but when she said that, I realized that I wasn’t just doing this for me. So when I went to the press, I found out also that they had never filed a report. There was never going to be any trail or any record or any type of report that they just tackled someone at noon in the middle of Manhattan, so I was happy that there was an actual video because I know without a doubt that if there was no video, all of the policemen would’ve stuck to the same story that nothing happened and moved on, and that would’ve been it. I probably would’ve gotten a little bit of newspaper coverage because of who I am and because it was during the US Open, but other than that, absolutely nothing would’ve been accomplished.
And what’s interesting is even before the video, I told my friends what happened and some people close to me, and their reactions were, “Oh man, that’s terrible,” but not really fully understanding. But then after the video came out, they said, “Oh my God, we had no idea how brutal that was or how serious you were about that.” I remember saying to a few different people, “You’re friends with me, I don’t exaggerate, I told you what happened, but it still took the video for you to believe that something like that happened the way I said it happened.” So I can imagine how the general public after first hearing about it and before the video was released probably thought . . . there is something else to the story because why would the police just tackle someone for no reason? . . . Like I said, I was really fortunate that there was a video because I don’t know what the outcome of all of this would’ve been if there wasn’t one.
Etan: So Officer James Frascatore of the NYPD didn’t identify himself as a policeman?
Blake: No, he never said anything, which I am sure is a breach of protocol, and I think that’s really one of the reasons why there can be so many miscommunications, if cops don’t have accountability and are allowed to go unpunished when they clearly handle situations completely the wrong way. I think about this often, I think about how lucky I am that I’m not the type of person that gets freaked out by a situation like that. There have been plenty of times where a fan has run up to me and inappropriately given me a hug or . . . some type of overzealous fan appreciation, so I wasn’t freaked out or anything. I honestly just stood there and smiled. I think most people’s reaction when someone is running up to you is that you’re going to put your hands up, you’re going to defend yourself, you’re going to try to run or something—that’s just a regular instinctual reaction—and in talking to a lot of police officers who in my opinion do things the right way, they all agree that if I had done any of those things, it would’ve been a whole different story.
The injuries I did get would’ve paled in comparison. I have nightmares about what could have happened and I don’t even have to say them, you know what could’ve happened. I think about how poorly he did his job, and there is just no accountability . . . You have to identify yourself as a police officer, and he never said it at the beginning. The only time he let me know that he was a cop was after he had handcuffed me . . . and he could see that I was visibly shaken, and he said, “You know you’re safe with us, right?”
I looked at him and said, “No, I don’t.”
And he said, “Well, you are.”
And you think that made me feel better? After he had just tackled me to the ground? I didn’t feel safe at all. Like I said, after he pulled out the handcuffs, that was the only time I realized that he was a cop. After I saw the second or third cop come up after I was already handcuffed, I could see their badges on their belt buckles. But the officer who tackled me didn’t have any badge, or I didn’t see any badge. He was just this man who tackled me for no reason.
Etan: He did everything wrong, while you had to do everything perfectly right or your life would’ve been in jeopardy. That’s just not a fair dynamic.
Blake: That’s why I always say there needs to be some type of accountability in these situations. If I’m a cop that is doing my job the right way, I’m not afraid of accountability . . . Same as a doctor or fireman or any other profession. If you are doing your job the right way and you make a mistake, that’s one thing. If you do your job in a completely negligent manner, well, that’s what malpractice suits are about, and there should be that same accountability for a cop who is holding life-or-death situations in their hands. They need to be trained well enough to do what they’re doing; they need to be able to handle those situations, and if they can’t, there are plenty of other jobs out there that don’t require life-or-death decisions to be made. So I definitely agree with you: it’s more than a little unfair that the onus is on me or on the citizen in general, and that’s why it’s so frustrating to not have the accountability.
Etan: The officer who tackled you, James Frascatore, is the defendant in at least four earlier lawsuits alleging excessive use of force. These are repeated allegations, but it doesn’t appear that the NYPD is doing anything to correct it. Am I wrong?
Blake: The more I find out about his history, the more frustrating this entire situation becomes, because it didn’t just happen to me. I want him fired. The fact is that he has these previous offenses, but when I talked to the people who are there to prosecute him, the civilian complaint review board, they said none of those cases have been closed really. There is one that they paid out like $40,000 from the city, but he faced no consequences even monetarily, because that was paid out from the city and the others are still open and pending. I can’t go into the court and present these priors as evidence just like they do with criminals when they have a long list of priors and their punishment is typically greater, but I can’t use his priors because they are just delaying it and delaying it and delaying it, just like they are with mine, which happened in September of 2015, but he hasn’t seen . . . any form of repercussions . . . He continues working and getting a paycheck since that day and will continue to get a paycheck. This is not going to make him hesitant to do this again.
There is no deterrent. They are showing him that he can do this and he’s going to get desk duty for a while and still make just as much or more money than he was before, and then be right back on the street like it never happened . . . The past precedent for a case like this is losing a few vacation days, and that’s it, because it was set when it was just the police officers trying the other police officers. So it was their decision and their rules and they were obviously very lenient. Now, when you have this complaint review board, they have to keep going on that past precedent. So when I asked for termination, they said that would make us look foolish, because it would make us look like we are favoring you just because of who you are . . . And I told them that we need to change that precedent because these things are reoccurring and there have been multiple offenses and mine was actually caught on tape. Losing ten vacation days is just a ridiculous punishment.
Etan: Isn’t that interesting that they said they can’t ask for termination because it would look like they were giving preferential treatment, when this case would not have been in the news or brought to the public if you weren’t who you are?
Blake: Right, which is what I said. I understand there have been cases that have been more severe, with worse injuries and more gruesome than mine, and those are just two of the pending cases on him. There are actually others, and add to that history and those precedents my case, which is actually on tape, which could be the tipping point and a lightning rod because that video is out there. That video has been on YouTube, it’s been on CNN, it’s been on Good Morning America, The Today Show, so people have seen it and people have seen how egregious this mistake was, and yes, the fact that I am who I am definitely made that possible. That’s why this can help so many others who don’t have that kind of access and that media availability. They can get something out of this by showing the public their dedication to getting one of the bad officers off of the street and showing the world that they are dedicated to running a clean department, etc.
You have so many officers who are doing it the right way, and guys like this have to know that they can’t get away with these kinds of things. He has had more complaints than 90 percent of the police force have had in their entire career. In a twenty-five-year career, I believe the stats are that most police officers have less than four complaints and he has had five in like seven months. So why would you keep someone with that record on the force, and what message does that send to the world about the integrity of the police department as a whole?
Etan: So you’re not going to drop this is what I’m hearing, and you’re going to continue to push for termination instead of the regular protocol of losing vacation days.
Blake: Yes, I’m approaching this in a two-pronged way: in speaking with the city, and the city in my opinion is doing the right thing; in the meetings, they have been repeating that they want to do the right thing, they want to help, and they want to promote things together. They have expressed that they want a positive to come out of this situation and they are going to start a fellowship. This is going to happen soon—it hasn’t yet, but they have ensured me that it will happen soon. They are going to fund a two-year fellowship so if someone comes straight out of law school, they will be instructed to handle cases like mine, where there aren’t any major injuries but there is a civilian complaint.
This is good because these complaints, as I said before, are often not taken to completion, because they are usually dragged out and the people just drop it. I think around 45 percent of these cases don’t even go to completion. So there will be someone specifically staffed to focus on these kinds of cases, and it will be on the city’s dime. They’re going to implement that and continue it for six years . . . and then review its effectiveness after the six years, so I am excited about that. The other part of that is the accountability for the officer, through the civilian complaint review board. And that has been so frustrating because it’s not even a trial for criminal punishment or anything like that. It’s just internally, for him to keep his job basically. So it was supposed to be in November initially. They adjourned it, they said it was going to be in January. I was just in New York to deal with that, it was supposed to be January 9; they adjourned it again without even telling us . . . He has to testify in some other case and they said he would have a tough time being truthful in this case because of the other case . . .
Sounds like a pretty lame excuse, to be honest. They told me they were just asking for fifteen vacation days and . . . that they feel that that’s a win. I told them absolutely not. I want to go to court, and we have an actual trial, and if he gets off then, I’m going to publicize it as much as possible that this is what happened, because he should be held accountable to go through the process of at least resembling some form of justice. I will definitely publicize this as much as I possibly can and utilize every last one of my resources to do so.
Etan: That’s why it’s important for somebody in your position to speak out. They implemented an entire new program based on your case being brought to the public and you not simply being silent about what happened to you.
Blake: Honestly, my initial reaction wasn’t even to think on those terms. I was so vulnerable at the time that I just wanted to forget about it and never think about it again. I just wanted the whole thing to go away, but thinking about it through my wife’s eyes, that this could happen to someone . . . in a situation where the cop is completely in the wrong and the outcome is fatal, I later saw that I had the opportunity to do something instead of being selfish and brushing this under the rug and never talking about it again, I have the opportunity to help more people that this could happen to. And I have had so many people since then come up to me and say, “This kind of thing happened to me,” “This kind of thing happened to my brother,” “This kind of thing happened to my cousin.”
And the other reaction I am getting from people is just utter disbelief that this actually happened to someone that they know. And even if they don’t personally know me, they may be a tennis fan or they read my book and they don’t know Walter Scott and they don’t know Terence Crutcher and they don’t know these other people who have been actually murdered. But now they have a personal connection to a case because the other cases just seemed so far away. For some people my case made it hit home for them and showed them that this could happen to anyone. And this made me realize that I needed to let people know that, yeah, this stuff still happens and happens way too often.
Etan: How could people think that this doesn’t happen?
Blake: Well, one of the things you have to understand is the cops are the ones who are directing the media. With my case, and typically in most cases, they are the ones directing all the rhetoric, all the sound bites, all the press clippings, and it makes you realize how tremendous their PR machine really is. The way they handled this situation was really incredible. So, this happened on September 9. We tried to get the video from the hotel and they said they couldn’t release it to us, but they could release it to the police if they got a warrant, so they kept telling us no, they can’t give it to us. No, they can’t release it, and we eventually said, “No, we are going to subpoena you if you don’t give it to us,” and they said, “Okay, we’ll give it to you.” They kept stalling us, this is after we subpoenaed them. “We’ll give it to you, we just gotta get it all together and finish paperwork, etc., etc. Give us a half an hour we’ll get it to you.”
This is after we were done being cordial and nice, after we served them with a subpoena. So, in that half an hour they released it on their own, purposely on September 11 because they knew we couldn’t make a big media thing against the police on 9/11. And in the days leading up to that, they kept saying that they couldn’t release the picture of the person who they were actually looking for because this was an ongoing investigation, etc. “But rest assured, the person looked just like him. This wasn’t racially based, just the person looked a lot like James Blake and it was an honest mistake that anyone could’ve made.” Those were their talking points. Then they finally put out a picture, and sure enough, the person did resemble me, but then I find out that this person in the picture has been in Australia, has a famous sunglasses business there, and hasn’t been in the States for like ten years.
But they wanted to control this PR by finding a picture and putting it out. I even wonder if they just found this picture on Instagram or Facebook or Google Images and found someone who looks like me. So people who haven’t been following the story saw that and thought, Well, yeah, the person does look like him and that was on the news so it looks like just an honest mistake. And that’s just how they have so much control over public perception through the NYPD’s PR machine. If you’re James Blake the plumber or James Blake the electrician, you have no chance of getting anything accomplished when you’re up against this kind of a machine. You’re completely at their mercy. You’re supposed to trust the police. They’re supposed to have your best interest at heart. Protect and serve, and a lot of people don’t have that trust because of these certain officers that do their jobs the wrong way, and if I was a police officer who did things the right way, I would be just as upset at a civilian getting tackled because it makes their job tougher.
It makes the good cops’ jobs tougher because now I’m scared. Every encounter I have with the police, I’m not going to go into it in a trusting way or think that they have my best interest at heart. I’m going to be scared that they’re going to do the same thing again. And a lot of people who have been in a situation like this where they are a victim of police brutality are going to feel the same way, and that’s completely unfair to the good cops.
Etan: Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Police Commissioner Bratton called you to apologize. You said that you appreciated their apologies, but their apologies weren’t enough. You pointed out that had you been somebody else who wasn’t a famous tennis player, you wouldn’t have received an apology. It is really important for you to be doing what you’re doing, so my hat’s definitely off to you, sir.
Blake: No thanks needed. This is what I honestly feel I have to do, like I have no choice . . . I don’t want to have one meeting—you guys apologize, take a couple of pictures—and then move on with my life as if nothing happened, because I know there are enough people who are not getting this type of treatment and something has to be done to change this.
Interview with Thabo Sefolosha
During my time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of my teammates was Thabo Sefolosha. My daughter Imani played with his daughters. My wife was very pregnant with Baby Sierra at the time, and his wife, Bertille, would come over to the house and help her. We were close. Thabo has a quiet, reserved demeanor. He is one of the most laid-back guys I have ever met. In the locker room, he would sit in the corner icing his knees and just listen to all of the guys debate about whatever the day’s topic was. Which is why, when I saw how the news outlets, even the sports news outlets, were reporting Thabo’s nightclub incident on April 8, 2015, how the police described him as though he had taken on an entire police force by himself, I knew that couldn’t be the real story.
Other former teammates chimed in, like guard Reggie Jackson, quoted in the Detroit Free Press: “I think a lot of people fear Black males so it’s scary. I’m not gonna lie, it’s kind of unfair at times as a Black male. Only thing I feel protects us is probably the celebrity status and being an NBA player, but nobody is off limits when you see what happens to a former teammate like Thabo.”
I had a particular issue with the absence of coverage on ESPN when this took place. It was almost as if they were acting like nothing had happened. Like Thabo was just missing in the Eastern Conference Finals because he hurt his leg by accident or something. It was weird. They just weren’t reporting it and discussing it. The NYPD were actually on tape breaking an NBA player’s leg, and it wasn’t big news. I couldn’t understand why. Especially given that there was a league-wide movement of players speaking out against police brutality and killings after Eric Garner was murdered. I was watching in hopes of a show discussing what had happened to my former teammate and someone I considered a friend—but nothing. It was as if there was an intentional media blackout.
I remember watching Mike & Mike and they were discussing how the Hawks would be able to guard LeBron without Thabo, and they barely mentioned Thabo’s situation. They brushed over it, saying something to the effect of, “Well, he won’t be available because of the situation we all know about.” I literally repeated out loud, “The situation we all know about? You mean where the police broke his leg!!!”
I was glad to be able to sit down with Thabo and have him tell in his own words everything that happened, the action he took against the NYPD, and how this can serve as an example and inspiration to other athletes.
Thabo Sefolosha was a great teammate and a great person. Much respect to him for suing the NYPD after they unjustly broke his leg.
Etan: What happened in New York City?
Thabo Sefolosha: I was coming out of the club, and it was the night of the stabbing of a fellow NBA player, and as I was coming out, I see the yellow Do Not Cross line, so I go to the opposite side and I just stand there. So I am already many feet away from what was going on. One of the officers rushes at me and says, “You cannot be here, you gotta get out of here now.” So I kept moving. I wasn’t running away or even jogging away, and I still to this day don’t know if that’s what he expected me to do, but I was walking away. And he keeps pressing me in particular, and I’m looking around at all the people who are just standing around, but he is telling me to leave as if I did something wrong. I told him I was moving and I was following his orders. You can talk to people nicely. Just because you are an officer doesn’t mean that you can talk to people that way. And he is just getting more and more agitated, and I have no idea why because I am following his orders . . .
So I kept going and there were three or four officers around me at this point, and there was an SUV parked there and I asked the lady if it was okay if we come in the car. So, as I am entering the car, this homeless guy comes up to me and says, “Do you have something for me?” I looked around to where the officers were because I knew that anything would be like a reason to do something, and I saw they were looking back at me, and I said, “Hey, I am just giving this guy some money,” so I go and make a few steps and one of the officers jumped in front of me and pushed the homeless man away from me.
Etan: Oh wow.
Sefolosha: That was my reaction as well—I was shocked that he would actually push a homeless man who did nothing but ask for some money. So . . . I said, “Here, take this money,” and that’s when one of the officers grabbed my arm and said, “That’s it, now you’re going to jail.”
Etan: They didn’t say anything to your teammate who was with you?
Sefolosha: No, no, no. Just me. And my teammate was actually behind me, so he was closer to the yellow line. But once the one policeman grabbed my arm and said I was going to jail, I was so shocked I thought he must be joking . . . I didn’t break any laws. I was literally complying with everything they were telling me to do. So I put my hands behind my back. I actually turned my back to him with my hands behind me, and I just kind of assumed the position because I was seeing that as ridiculous as this entire thing was, they were serious. One policeman grabbed my other arm and started pulling me to the left. And while he was pulling me, the one grabbing my arm on the right side started pulling harder, so I am being pulled in both directions.
Eventually somebody comes from behind, kicking me in my leg, and steps on my leg real hard, breaks my leg, puts me facedown on the ground, and puts me in handcuffs and takes me to the precinct. It was just crazy the way it escalated. The entire response from them was just uncalled-for all around. I understand that there was a lot going on with the stabbing and everything, but I wasn’t a part of that, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and they singled me out.
To this day, I don’t know exactly why; there could be a racial element to it. I don’t like to call people racist, but there is a racial element in a lot of things in this country.
Etan: And your teammate . . .
Sefolosha: Yeah, he is white too. Pero Antić.
Etan: Right, and just to paint the picture of Pero, and you tell me if this is an exaggeration or not, but he is a big, bald-headed, tattooed, menacing, Sons of Anarchy–looking white guy.
Sefolosha: Yeah, he’s pretty much like you described.
Etan: And they said nothing to him the whole time?
Sefolosha: Not until the end, and then they were looking around like, “Well, what do we do with him? Okay, well, let’s arrest him too.”
Etan: And they charged you with interfering with an ongoing police investigation, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, but you were offered a plea deal. Why did you reject it? And did that plea deal involve an admission of guilt?
Sefolosha: So the deal was exactly that. I would’ve had to do one day of community service, and after six months the charges are completely dropped. So there wasn’t any admission on anybody’s part of any wrongdoing. And that was the part that was completely unacceptable for me, because most people will say, “Oh, he didn’t really want to go to court because somewhere he probably did something wrong and accepted a plea deal of community service.” Also, I thought it was an easy way out for them for them to say, “Okay, you do one day of community service and we’ll act like the whole thing didn’t happen.” Why would I have to do community service? You broke my leg, I didn’t break yours. You violated me. I didn’t violate you. I am supposed to just accept this and say it is okay? There was no way I was going to take that deal.
Etan: The media coverage was terrible.
Sefolosha: Yeah, but in the bigger picture, I was lucky. If the police want to do something to you, they have the power to. For me, it was breaking my leg. For other people, they were shot to death. And people will, in most cases, take the side of the police no matter what. Even if they see a video tape, they will say, “Well, maybe there is something we didn’t see before the tape,” or, “Let’s wait until all of the facts come out.” That’s what happens, and people will believe whatever the police report says. And the media won’t give the other side much of a chance to tell their side of the story before they make up their minds . . . Never mind if we are looking at the tape and see that I am in no way resisting anything. If the police say it, then it must be true.
Etan: That’s just not your personality.
Sefolosha: People who know me know my personality and my character. But what I was worried about was the people who don’t know me personally. Who only see me on the basketball court. Who will believe anything that the police and the media tell them . . . I couldn’t allow people to think that I actually did the things they were saying I did.
Etan: So they still don’t want to admit that they did anything wrong, even to this day?
Sefolosha: No, no admission whatsoever. And that’s the problem . . . There are a lot of things that are wrong with the way they police in America as a whole. They have the authority, they have the power, they have everything on their side . . . If I would have done anything wrong, it would have been all over the news and all over their report and everyone would have said, “Well, he should’ve done this and they wouldn’t have broken his leg,” or, “He should’ve done that and none of this would have happened.” But since I did nothing wrong, they had no choice but to settle. And the DA was trying her hardest to make me look bad and excuse what the police did to me . . . For her, it was just about winning the case for the police. It wasn’t about truth or justice or any of that, just win at all cost. And they just made stuff up. The report early on, before we even got to court, was saying that I punched an officer in the face, and then they had to scratch that because once the video came out, you saw that didn’t happen. And in a case like mine, no officer is going to lose their job or have a serious punishment.
But what about the people who get killed and they don’t have a lawyer to defend them, or there is no tape, or they are not famous? What happens to those people? How easy is it for the police to get together . . . and say this is what happened, and nobody can do anything about it?
Etan: What has been the fan response to the police settlement? I know many people were wondering why you settled for four million dollars when you sued for fifty million.
Sefolosha: Well, it wasn’t necessarily about the money, it was the principle . . . And after the settlement, people started saying, “Okay, well, maybe he didn’t do anything wrong or they wouldn’t have settled. Maybe he wasn’t the one at fault.” I feel like now, a lot of people are looking at me differently and not looking at me like I am a criminal or a bad person.
Etan: What advice do you have for young people if they have an encounter with the police?
Sefolosha: The main piece of advice would be to know your rights in your particular state. You can read it on the Internet, you don’t even have to ask you parents or teachers to tell you. You need to know what the police can and cannot do legally . . .
Etan: I wish I had seen the same uproar in the media when you settled that I did when you were arrested. That bothered me.
Sefolosha: People want to believe the police, they want to look at them as the good guys, but everyone has to be held accountable . . . So I think that’s the biggest issue—just not holding the police accountable. People’s lives get taken away from them. People get traumatized, PTSD, scarred for life. They actually broke my leg. People have their entire lives changed and nobody is being held accountable, and until they start holding the police accountable, there will unfortunately be more cases of tragedy.