Jacob Blake speaks out for first time since being shot by police
MILWAUKEE — Jacob Blake has spoken publicly for the first time since a Kenosha, Wis., police officer shot him seven times in the back, saying he’s in constant pain from the shooting, which doctors fear will leave him paralyzed from the waist down.
In a video posted Saturday night on Twitter by his family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, Mr. Blake said from his hospital bed that, “Twenty- four hours, every 24 hours, it’s pain — nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side to side, it hurts to eat.”
Mr. Blake, a 29- year- old father of six, also said he has staples in his back and stomach.
“Your life — and not only just your life, your legs, something you need to move around and forward in life — can be taken from you like this,” he said, snapping his fingers.
He added: “Stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people out there, man, because there’s so much time that’s been wasted.”
Mr. Blake, who is Black, was shot in the back by a white police officer on Aug. 23 after walking away from the officer and two others who were trying to arrest him. The officer, Rusten Sheskey, opened fire after Mr. Blake opened his own SUV’s driver- side door and leaned into the vehicle. The shooting was captured on video and posted online, sparking several nights of protests and unrest in Kenosha, a city of about 100,000 between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Officer Sheskey and the other
officers who were at the scene were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. None of them has been charged with a crime.
Mr. Blake, who had an outstanding arrest warrant when he was shot, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman in May and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He appeared remotely via video conference from his Milwaukee hospital bed, wearing a dress shirt and tie. He spoke only to respond to the judge’s questions.
The state Justice Department has said a knife was recovered from Mr. Blake’s vehicle, but it has not said whether he was holding it when officers tried to arrest him.
The man who made the widely seen cellphone video of the shooting, 22- year- old Raysean White, said he saw Mr. Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Mr. Blake’s hands.
The Kenosha police union claimed Mr. Blake had the knife and refused orders to drop it. Mr. Blake fought with police, including putting one officer in a headlock, the union added. Police twice used a Taser, which did not stop Mr. Blake.
President Donald Trump visited Kenosha earlier this week, despite local officials urging him to stay away, and delivered his “law and order” campaign message in the wake of the protests. At a roundtable on community safety, he blamed left- wing radicals for the violence while praising local police officers.
“I really came today to thank law enforcement,” Mr. Trump said. “What you’ve done has been incredible.”
He did not mention Mr. Blake or meet with him or his family.
Mr. Trump’s November rival, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, spent more than an hour with Mr. Blake and his family Thursday during his own visit to the city.
Mr. Blake’s uncle Justin Blake, who has emerged as an emotional spokesperson for the family, said the family had a positive meeting with Mr. Biden.
“My brother doesn’t like a lot of people,” Justin Blake said of Jacob’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., “but he liked Joe Biden. It meant a lot for him to take time out of his schedule to be with the family.”
Protests have subsided of late in Kenosha. Fencing remains in place around the government buildings that surround Civic Center Park, but the National Guard presence has disappeared. BLAK, a local group that has led protests since Mr. Blake’s shooting, has concentrated its efforts on less confrontational forms of activism, hosting community cookouts over the weekend.