ESPN's Doug Glanville writes post in support of James Blake

 

On Friday, former Major League Baseball player and current ESPN baseball analyst Doug Glanville wrote a Facebook post in response to the recent incident involving former professional tennis player James Blake.

 

Earlier in September, Blake was wrongly tackled and detained by a plainclothes officer in a case of mistaken identity. The NYPD later released video footage of the incident.

 

Glanville wrote:

 

“The recent experience that James Blake endured with law enforcement (and the subsequent editorial by his mother, Betty Blake) certainly provided further inspiration to the importance of expressing the emotional fallout of such an experience.

 

There is a wake left behind when an aggressive mistake of identity is made, especially as you slowly digest the fact that your safety was at stake because of it. I think we often underestimate how many innocent people are negatively swept up in an investigation and the lingering impact it has on these people and their families.

 

It is collateral damage, and too often, the disenfranchised are considered an acceptable sacrifice. It also tends to create larger fissures in an already crumbling trust along the many identity-based fault lines that unfortunately can divide us.

 

I hope we get better within our communities in how we restore confidence, justice, and peace in the aftermath. James Blake is helping to bring the issue to the forefront after his experience. I was fortunate enough to be able to assist in clarifying the law at the legislative level in response to mine.

 

I encourage each of us to continue to look for positive and impactful ways to improve the relationship between citizens and those entrusted with the difficult responsibility of enforcing the law. In the end, respect and accountability must strike a balance in the true spirit of justice.

 

In the meantime, it is clear that innocence is not enough.”

 

Glanville also wrote a poem called “Unfit Description” that references his own experiences.