FORMER tennis star James Blake agreed Wednesday to drop his right to sue New York after he was mistakenly arrested and tackled by police in 2015. In exchange, a legal fellowship will be created in his name that will bolster the work of the city’s police watchdog agency.

Instead of a monetary award, the settlement creates a fellowship in Blake’s name with the Civilian Complaint Review Board to help people with complaints against the police. The fellowship will augment the existing procedure for complaints.

Blake, who was ranked No. 4 in the world four years ago, was waiting for a car outside a Manhattan hotel to take him to the U.S. Open on Sept. 9, 2015, when Officer James Frascatore tackled him without provocation or warning in what police said was a case of mistaken identity.

Blake was bodyslammed, handcuffed and led away in an incident recorded by a security video camera and widely circulated, sparking outrage at a time of rising tension nationwide over police relations with minorities. Blake has a black father and a white mother, while Frascatore is white.

Police said Blake had been mistakenly identified by a cooperating witness as a suspect in a fraud ring.

(SD-Agencies)