Originally published 2020-08-27.
Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot seven times in the back and side by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey on 23 August 2020, as he leaned into his car with three of his young sons inside. Two days later his father, also named Jacob Blake, said his son was paralysed from the waist down. Doctors were not yet sure whether the paralysis would be permanent; Blake has since used a wheelchair. No officer was charged over the shooting.
The video of the shooting set off protests across the United States and days of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This page explains what happened, what the father said, what investigators later concluded, and how the case ended.
What happened on 23 August 2020
Shortly after 5pm, Kenosha police were called to a home after a woman reported that Blake was there when he was not allowed to be, and that he had taken her car keys. Officers knew Blake had an open arrest warrant from July, which included a charge of third-degree sexual assault.
Officers tried to arrest him, and a struggle followed. Two officers fired Tasers at Blake, but they did not stop him. A bystander's video, viewed millions of times, then shows Blake walking around the front of an SUV while officers follow with guns drawn, shouting at him to drop a knife. As he opens the driver's door and leans in, Sheskey grabs his shirt and fires seven shots.
Wisconsin's Attorney General, Josh Kaul, said a knife was later found on the floor of the driver's side of the car and that Blake had admitted to having one. The officer's lawyer said Sheskey believed Blake was trying to take one of the children. Blake's lawyers disputed that account, and said he was trying to check on his sons.
What his father said
Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times on 25 August, Jacob Blake Sr. said doctors had told the family his son was paralysed from the waist down. He said all he wanted was to touch his son's face and kiss his forehead, even through a mask. Then he asked the question many viewers were asking: "What justified all those shots?"
The family's lawyer, Ben Crump, later described severe injuries beyond the spinal damage, including harm to Blake's kidney and liver and the loss of most of his small intestine and colon. Blake was handcuffed to his hospital bed for a time because of the earlier warrant, which drew further criticism until the restraints were removed.
A woman who saw the shooting, Laquisha Booker, told WTMJ that she watched the officer hold Blake by his shirt and fire as the children screamed in the back seat.
Protests, unrest and the Kenosha shootings
Protests began the same night. Over the following days, demonstrations in Kenosha were accompanied by fires, looting and property damage, and Kenosha County declared a state of emergency on 24 August. The National Guard was sent in. Professional athletes joined the protest too: the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play an NBA playoff game on 26 August, and other teams across several sports followed.
On the night of 25 August, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch, Illinois, who had come to Kenosha carrying an AR-15-style rifle, shot three men during the unrest. Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber were killed and Gaige Grosskreutz was wounded. Rittenhouse was charged with homicide, and his case became a national flashpoint. In November 2021 a jury acquitted him on all charges after he argued self-defence.
The decision not to charge the officer
On 5 January 2021, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced that Sheskey and the other officers would not face criminal charges. Graveley said he had reviewed around 40 hours of video and hundreds of pages of reports from a state Justice Department investigation, and that the state would not be able to disprove the officer's claim of self-defence at trial. He also said Blake would not face new charges from the incident.
In October 2021, the US Department of Justice said it would not bring federal civil rights charges against Sheskey, finding insufficient evidence that he had wilfully broken the law. Sheskey reportedly returned to duty after an internal review. Civil rights advocates and Blake's family said the decisions showed how hard it is to hold officers criminally responsible for shootings, even when they are captured on camera.
What became of the other cases
In November 2020, prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charge against Blake. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanours, disorderly conduct and domestic abuse, and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Blake also filed a civil lawsuit against Sheskey. He withdrew it in 2022, refiled it in 2023, and then dismissed it again in September 2023, bringing the legal story largely to an end. He has spoken publicly about learning to live with his injuries and about his hopes for his children.
Why the case shaped the 2020 debate
The shooting came three months after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. To many, the sight of a man shot in the back in front of his children was another sign that police use of force falls hardest on Black Americans. Others pointed to the warrant, the knife and the struggle as reasons the encounter turned so dangerous.
Both readings rely on the same short video, which is one reason the case is still debated. What is not in dispute is the result: a man left paralysed, three children who saw it happen, a city scarred by unrest, two other men killed, and no criminal charges for anyone involved in the police shooting itself.
Sources: Wikipedia: Shooting of Jacob Blake; Chicago Sun-Times, 25 August 2020; Wisconsin Examiner, 5 January 2021.
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