NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 08: James Blake arrives to play with Gigi Fernandez against Lukas Greif and Ann Li during their Exhibition Doubles Match on Day Eleven of the 2016 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

In September 2015, tennis star James Blake was tackled and handcuffed by police in New York City after being mistakenly identified as a player in a cellphone fraud scam. Now, almost two years later, Blake and the city of New York are letting cooler heads prevail for a worthy cause.

In exchange for dropping the right to sue the city, New York will create a legal fellowship to help improve the city’s police watchdog agency. The fellowship will be named after Blake, according to the Associated Press.

The city and Blake’s attorney announced the agreement Wednesday. The fellow will serve two-year terms at the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the city will fund it for six years. The salary will be commensurate with other staff there and will be no less than $65,000, officials said.

The fellow’s job will be to help navigate the system for people making complaints against police, and to push for strong investigations.

“It has been my intention since Day One to turn a negative into a positive, and I think this fellowship accomplishes that goal,” Blake said in a released statement. That’s a constructive way to handle what had to be a rough moment in his life. And instead of milking the city for whatever amount of money through a lawsuit, being able to put that aside and help improve the way law enforcement operates is a bold decision.

In a day where what the police do and how the police do it is under as much scrutiny as it has ever been, this seems like a good idea to roll with in New York.

“This was created to get a more intensive focus on the issue of excessive force and to have an independent person brought into city government at the city’s expense to address this very significant problem,” said Blake’s attorney, Kevin Marino.

[Associated Press]

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.