Officer who shot Blake saw police work as ‘customer service’

Kenosha, Wis. — A year before his shooting of a Black man reignited nationwide racial justice protests, local police Officer Rusten Sheskey gave a lighthearted interview to the Kenosha News about his life as a bicycle cop.

He discussed his love of bicycle racing and described his job as a “customer service” role, with citizens footing the bill for a helpful police force.

“It’s a huge responsibility, and I really like trying to help the people,” Sheskey said. “We may not be able to make a situation right, or better, but we can maybe make it a little easier for them to handle during that time.”

Sheskey is now on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice into an encounter that left 29-year-old Jacob Blake partially paralyzed after Sheskey fired seven times into his back last weekend. It’s unclear what started the escalated police response, but a viral cellphone video shows Sheskey following Blake as he walks toward his vehicle and then firing after the man opened the car door.

The incident set off a week of protests in the lakeside Wisconsin city, ultimately leading to two fatal shootings by a 17-year-old who traveled 20 miles from his home to join armed men claiming to protect businesses in the city from riots.

When former neighbor Debbie DeShongv heard Sheskey was the officer at the center of the case, she thought of the boy who joined her daughter on hands and knees in her suburban Wisconsin driveway, drawing together in bright-colored chalk as preteens.

She pored over every video of the incident she could find, trying to understand why her daughter’s best friend when they graduated high school 13 years ago might be the lone officer to open fire into Blake’s back, as Blake’s children watched. He must’ve been protecting someone, she reasoned.

“The person didn’t stop,” DeShong said of Blake. “When I see four officers pull their gun at the same time, I know something’s going on that people didn’t see. If there were kids in the car, any chance of that man hurting those kids, I could see him doing anything he could to protect those kids. He’s not going to let somebody hurt somebody.”

“It’s a huge responsibility, and I really like trying to help the people.” OFFICER RUSTEN SHESKEY, IN A NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW