Blake footage released
Video surveillance released Friday of the mistaken arrest of James Blake shows a plainclothes police officer who has a history of excessive-force complaints grabbing the former tennis star by the arm and tackling him to the ground. Officer James Frascatore’s rough arrest of Blake outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday prompted apologies from New York City’s mayor and police commissioner. The surveillance footage shows Blake standing against a silver post outside the Grand Hyatt New York when Frascatore approaches suddenly, grabs Blake, spins him around and throws him to the ground. Stephen Davis, the NYPD’s top spokesman, released the video Friday and said Blake was interviewed by internal affairs detectives Thursday night.
Italian pm flies in for final
Rome: Italian Premier Matteo Renzi was flying to New York to attend the first all-Italian U.S. Open final. Fresh off her remarkable upset win over Serena Williams, Roberta Vinci will face childhood rival Flavia Pennetta on Saturday. Renzi canceled his appointments and was flying to the United States with Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago and Italian Tennis Federation president Angelo Binaghi, a statement from the premier’s office said. News of Vinci’s and Pennetta’s wins topped Saturday’s headlines in Italy. “We love you,” said the front-page headline of the Gazzetta dello Sport, with a “NY” inside a heart that replaced the letter “O’’ in “love.” The front page of mainstream daily Corriere della Sera featured photos above the fold of Pennetta and Vinci — both of them close to tears — next to a headline that read, “Two normal Italian girls have already made history.”