Man paralyzed in police shooting still hopeful

CHICAGO >> A Black man who was left paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot by a white police officer in Wisconsin expects to be walking soon, an accomplishment he says is tempered by fears of it happening again.

Jacob Blake Jr. was shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer in August 2020, three months after George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota. Blake’s shooting set off days of violent protests in the city of about 100,000 people located midway between Chicago and Milwaukee.

Blake tells CNN he was able to take a few steps during his son’s birthday celebration this past week, which he compared to sliding his legs through a woodchipper. Although he was “so geeked” by the moment that followed months of physical rehabilitation, he is not claiming victory.

“Yeah, I’m here, and yeah I’m about to be walking, but I really don’t feel like I have survived because it could happen to me again,” Blake told the network.