Surveillance video obtained exclusively by The Post shows NYPD cop James Frascatore and James Blake shaking hands and casually chatting moments after the ex-tennis star was tackled to the ground and wrongfully arrested.
The undercover officer extends his hand to Blake, and the former athlete shakes it. Frascatore also pats Blake on the shoulder a few times.
The cop and other officers in the sting-gone-awry then start to walk away from the scene outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in Midtown, where Frascatore body-slammed Blake to the sidewalk minutes earlier in a case of mistaken identity.
Blake follows the officers and pats lead Detective Daniel Herzog on the arm. The ex-tennis star then engages in another chat with Frascatore.
Blake’s cool demeanor turned fiery hot shortly after the Sept. 9 incident, however.
Three days later, he publicly demanded that Frascatore be fired for police brutality, saying, “I don’t think he deserves to have a badge.”
Blake privately met with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton this week to push for more officer training.
Both city officials have publicly apologized to Blake, and former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has called Blake’s bust “inappropriate.’’
According to sources and emails obtained by The Post on Thursday, Frascatore used force to take down Blake because the cop had been warned that the suspects police were pursuing in a credit-card scam might be armed with knives.
GoButler, the delivery company that fingered a man resembling Blake as a suspect in the case, warned police hours before their Sept. 9 sting operation that they should “dress and equip accordingly” because “these men may be armed; likely with knives.”
Frascatore also told investigators that he was concerned that the plate-glass windows behind him could shatter if he didn’t take down Blake right away.
Beside the excessive-force complaint, Frascatore and the detectives were initially accused by police brass of failing to properly report the incident to their superiors.
But other documents obtained by The Post show that the officers entered Blake’s arrest into the computer system and then voided it.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolent Association, responded to story in The Post on Friday by saying, “This new information demonstrates the dangers of rushing to judgment before all the facts are in.
“Now we have a more complete picture: The officers involved in the arrest were told that the suspect may be armed with a knife, the mistaken arrest of Mr. Blake was properly voided, and Mr. Blake and the officers shook hands before parting ways.
“These are exactly the type of mitigating circumstances that can only be revealed after a full investigation,” Lynch said. “As we have said from the beginning of this case, the officer involved in this case deserves a fair assessment based on all the facts, not a knee-jerk summary condemnation.”