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Bronx Assemblyman Says NYPD Officer Used Excessive Force Against Him

By  Chris Sommerfeldt Eddie Small and Jeff Mays | August 1, 2016 10:04am | Updated on August 1, 2016 4:03pm

 Assemblyman Michael Blake said an officer threw him into a gate during an event at the Gouverneur Morris Houses on Saturday afternoon.
Assemblyman Michael Blake said an officer threw him into a gate during an event at the Gouverneur Morris Houses on Saturday afternoon.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

THE BRONX — A New York State assemblyman from The Bronx says police used excessive force against him as he tried to soothe a tense situation between officers and community members in Morrisania and then lied about it to the press.

Assemblyman Michael Blake said he was attending a family event at the Gouverneur Morris Houses at East 169th Street and Washington Avenue in The Bronx on Saturday afternoon when he saw a woman in handcuffs.

The 33-year-old Blake, who represents the 79th Assembly District in the South Bronx, said he rushed over to discuss the situation when an officer put him in a bear hug and threw him against a gate.

Blake described it as "an absolute injustice and tragedy" and said the only reason he was let go was because other police officers recognized him as an elected official.

The officer who tackled Blake did apologize for doing so soon after it happened, explaining that he had perceived him as a threat to his partner, but when Blake asked if he would do the same thing if the situation happened again, he said he would, according to Blake.

He filed a formal complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Saturday night and noted that he thought his race had something to do with the police officer’s conduct.

"I was a black man," Blake said at a press conference about the incident on Monday morning. "I was seen as a threat, period. No questions asked."

He emphatically denied that he had grabbed the officer's shoulder despite the NYPD's claim that the incident may have been sparked by Blake putting his hands on a police officer, describing any attempts to characterize him as aggressive during the interaction as slanderous.

"On Saturday afternoon, after multiple conversations with multiple officers, including the officers included in this situation, not one time did anyone indicate that their shoulder was touched," he said. "But yet, ironically, when press reaches out, then all of a sudden your shoulder has been touched, and that was the reason for the action."

Blake said he hoped to receive an apology from Commissioner Bill Bratton about the incident, along with a face to face meeting with him.

Bratton said he met with Blake soon after his Monday morning press conference and explained the protocols for investigating allegations similar to the ones he had filed.

He said the CCRB investigation would likely take several months and offered to provide Blake and his staff briefings on the use of force policies within the police department.

However, he said he would not be apologizing for the event at this time.

"There will be no apology forthcoming from me," Bratton said at a separate press conference on Monday afternoon, adding, "We'll see where the investigation goes."

Mayor Bill de Blasio has already apologized to Blake for the incident, saying he told the assemblyman that he was sorry for what happened while stressing that there still needs to be a full investigation into it.

"We have to reserve final judgment until there is a normal kind of process where it’s investigated," de Blasio said. "Obviously, he has a CCRB complaint in. That needs to go through the process, and then we’ll have a better picture."

Blake said he hoped to see the officer face some sort of discipline for his actions on Saturday, but Bratton maintained that this was not likely to happen.

"There is no action that has been taken against the officer, nor will there be," he said. "I have no reason to believe that the officer behaved in a significantly inappropriate manner. We will see what the investigation determines, but I see no reason to remove that officer."

Blake stressed multiple times throughout the press conference that the only reason he was recognizable Monday was that he had been recognized on Saturday, which he viewed as an enormous problem.

"Your name and your title should not be determination for justice," he said.