Kenosha police officers involved in Jacob Blake shooting won't face charges

Tim O'Donnell

The police officers involved in the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August that left Jacob Blake paralyzed will not face charges, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said Tuesday.

Blake, a Black man, was shot in the back by officer Rusten Sheskey, who is white. Sheskey was one of multiple officers who responded to a woman who reported her boyfriend was not supposed to be around. The officers got into a confrontation with Blake, and bystander footage, The Associated Press notes, "shows Blake walking to the driver-side door of an SUV as officers follow him with guns drawn, shouting." When Blake opened the door, Sheskey can be seen grabbing Blake's shirt from behind and firing.

The Kenosha police union said Blake was armed with a knife that he refused to drop when ordered by Sheskey. Sheskey's lawyer said Blake started running toward his client with the weapon, prompting him to shoot. "State investigators had said only that officers saw a knife on the floor of the SUV and hadn't said whether Blake threatened anyone with it," AP writes. The officers were not equipped with body cameras. Graveley said the state likely wouldn't "be able to prove" that Sheskey was not acting in self defense.

Blake's attorney Ben Crump expressed disappointment with the ruling. He argued the decision "further destroys trust in our judicial system," but said "we will continue to press forward with a civil lawsuit."

The shooting came amid a summer of civil unrest and protests against police brutality in the United States, sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by police in Minneapolis. Major demonstrations took place in Kenosha afterward. Read more at The Associated Press.

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