Jacob Blake filed a lawsuit against the police officer accused of shooting him and causing him to be paralyzed.
Blake, a black man who was shot on Aug. 23, 2020, as he reached into his vehicle, filed the suit on Friday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Officer Rusten Sheskey is the only defendant named in the suit.
Blake was the victim of the officer’s use of excessive force, the lawsuit claimed, alleging the officer acted with “malice, willfulness, and reckless indifference to [Blake’s] rights” and that as a result, Blake “suffered catastrophic, permanent injuries.”
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Ben Crump, who has represented other defendants who sued law enforcement officials and departments, is one of the lawyers representing Blake.
“Nothing can undo this tragedy or take away the suffering endured by Jacob, his children, and the rest of the Blake family,” Crump said in a statement. “But hopefully today is a significant step in achieving justice for them and holding Officer Sheskey answerable for his nearly deadly actions — actions that have deprived Jacob of his ability to walk.”
The lawsuit recounted the moments leading up to the shooting in which officers were called to the area because of “family trouble.”
It detailed when Blake walked around his vehicle with officers following him with their guns pointed at him, including when Blake noted that he had a knife in his possession at the time, but stated that “at no time” did he attempt “to point the knife in the officers’ direction.”
“Miraculously, no bystanders were hit by gunfire. Although Jacob’s children escaped physical injury and avoided being hit by the stray bullet that fired into the SUV, they were forced to witness their father being gunned down only feet away from where they sat,” Crump’s co-counsel B’Ivory LaMarr said.
The lawsuit does not specify damages.
Sheskey is still employed with the Kenosha Police Department but is on administrative leave, according to NPR.
None of the officers involved in the shooting will be charged, and no charges will be filed against Blake for potential crimes, District Attorney Michael Graveley said in January.
“Very important — Jacob Blake, while actively resisting, arms himself with a knife. … It is absolutely incontrovertible that Jacob Blake was armed with a knife during this encounter,” Graveley said. “Incontrovertible. Most incontrovertible, because Jacob Blake, in all of the times he spoke to DCI, admits he possessed a knife.”
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Blake’s shooting, which prompted protests and violence throughout the city of Kenosha, came during a time of heightened scrutiny on law enforcement. The shooting took place after the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Floyd’s death spurred nationwide protests regarding use of force rules of engagement for law enforcement officers, as well as questions about how officers interact with minorities.
