Mayor de Blasio today publicly apologized to retired tennis star James Blake, who was tackled and handcuffed by plainclothes police on Wednesday in a case of mistaken identity.
"I want to make very clear I’ve reached out to Mr. Blake and I want to talk to him because I want to apologize to him on behalf of the City of New York," de Blasio said in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis.
"This shouldn’t have happened and he shouldn't have been treated this way," the mayor said. "And I think it is a reminder of why we have to continue to make reforms. We are very adamant, and Commissioner Bratton and I have spoken about this many times, that we are going to constantly improve the training of the men and women of the NYPD to focus on using only the force that's needed in each situation."
The mayor also waded deep into the topic of the presidential race, saying that the Democratic field is large enough and that Vice President Joe Biden shouldn’t throw his hat into the ring.
"Look, if you're talking about the state of the presidential race I think it's pretty straightforward, we have a very impressive group of Democratic candidates right now, I don’t think we need additional candidates,’" de Blasio said.
"I think the candidates we have are really putting forward the issues, putting forward very bold solutions," he said.
See the full interview with Mayor de Blasio and Errol Louis tonight on "Inside City Hall" at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.