Lawyer says Wisconsin man shot by police unlikely to walk
KENOSHA, Wis. — Jacob Blake, the Black man shot multiple times by police here, is paralyzed and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again, his family’s attorney said Tuesday.
The 29-year-old was in surgery, attorney Ben Crump said, adding that the bullets severed Blake’s spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae. Another attorney said there also was severe damage to organs.
“It’s going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again,” said Crump, who called for the officer who opened fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs.
Blake’s shooting Sunday in Kenosha — apparently in the back while three of his children watched — was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests over racial injustice in several cities, some of which have devolved into unrest.
It came just three months after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police touched off a wider reckoning on race.
“They shot my son seven times, seven times, like he didn’t matter,” said Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., who spoke to reporters alongside other family members and lawyers. “But my son matters. He’s a human being and he matters.”
The legal team plans to file a civil suit against the Police Department over the shooting.
Police have said little about what happened, other than that they were responding to a domestic dispute.
The officers involved haven’t been named. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating.
After a night of destructive protests, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for calm Tuesday while also declaring a state of emergency under which he doubled the National Guard deployment in Kenosha from 125 to 250.
The night before, crowds destroyed dozens of buildings and set more than 30 fires in the southeastern Wisconsin city’s downtown.
“We cannot allow the cycle of systemic racism and injustice to continue,” said Evers, who is facing mounting pressure from Republicans over his handling of the unrest. “We also cannot continue going down this path of damage and destruction.”
Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, said the damage in Kenosha doesn’t reflect what her family wants and that, if her son could see it, he would be “very unpleased.”
She said that the first thing her son said to her when she saw him was he was sorry.
“He said, ‘I don’t want to be a burden on you guys,’ ” Jackson said. “‘I want to be with my children, and I don’t think I’ll walk again.’ ”
Three of the younger Blake’s sons — aged 3, 5 and 8 — were in the car at the time of the shooting, Crump said. It was the 8-year-old’s birthday, he added.
The man who said he made the cellphone video of the shooting, 22year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before the gunfire erupted.
He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
In the footage, Blake walks from the sidewalk around the front of his SUV to his driver-side door as officers follow him with their guns drawn and shout at him.
As Blake opens the door and leans into the SUV, an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire. Seven shots can be heard, though it isn’t clear how many struck Blake or how many officers fired.
Blake’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son had eight holes in his body.
Anger over the shooting has spilled into the streets of Kenosha and other cities, including Los Angeles, Wisconsin’s capital of Madison and in Minneapolis, the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter movement this summer following Floyd’s death.
Hundreds of protesters defied an 8 p.m. curfew Monday night, massing in downtown Kenosha, where they were met by a wall of law enforcement officers, including members of the Wisconsin National Guard.
Some clashed with officers and vandalized businesses. There were 34 fires associated with the unrest, with 30 businesses destroyed or damaged along with an unknown number of residences, Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig told the Kenosha News.
A city block was cordoned off Tuesday so officials could survey damage. Smoke filled the air and visibility was low as firefighters used water cannons on still-smoldering buildings.
“Nobody deserves this,” said Pat Oertle, owner of Computer Adventure.
Computers were stolen, and the store was “destroyed,” she said.
“This accomplishes nothing,“Oertle said. “This is not justice that they’re looking for.”