Jacob Blake’s father says his son, who was shot seven times by a Kenosha police officer, is handcuffed to his hospital bed in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
According to Blake Sr., when he visited his son at the Froedtert Hospital on Wednesday, the younger Blake was handcuffed to his hospital bed. Blake is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds and at least one surgery after being shot by a Kenosha officer now identified as Rusten Shesky.
“I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed,” his father, also named Jacob Blake, said Thursday at a news conference. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?” Blake’s family says he is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting, although doctors do not know if the paralysis is permanent.
Blake Sr. said his son is handcuffed because he is under arrest, but does not know what he has been charged with. “Right now, we don’t know. We’re playing it by ear,” he said.
Police were called to the scene of a domestic incident on Sunday evening at 5:11 pm after a woman called 911, saying her boyfriend was on the premises and was not supposed to be there. On the call, the dispatcher names Blake, saying he “is not supposed to be there.”
Officers reportedly were unsuccessful in using a Taser to stop Blake as they attempted to arrest him. After Blake walked away from the officers and toward his car, he opened the vehicle door and “leaned forward,” according to the Department of Criminal Investigations. Shesky grabbed onto Blake’s shirt before firing seven shots while Blake’s back was facing him. Blake’s three sons were sitting in the back seat at the time.
DCI says there was a knife located on the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s car and he had no other weapons. None of the officers was wearing a body camera, as the department does not have any.
Shesky, who has worked at the Kenosha Police Department for seven years, has been placed on administrative leave alongside another officer who remains unidentified.
Blake’s death sparked protests in Kenosha that turned deadly when a malware authorities have identified as 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who traveled from Antioch, Illinois, to confront protesters, fired several shots and two people in Kenosha on Tuesday. A third victim was injured but is expected to survive. Rittenhouse has been arrested and charged with five felonies, including two counts of homicide.
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang said he talked to Blake Sr. about his son. “His father actually used the words ‘chains.’ He said, ‘My son is chained up,’” Yang said to CNN’s Erin Burnett in an Aug. 27 interview with the network.
Yang also said Blake Sr. was happy to see his son awakened but was angered by the fact that he was handcuffed.
At a news conference on Thursday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said he was concerned after learning that Blake was chained to his hospital bed.
“I would have no personal understanding why that would be necessary,” he said.
Blake’s family said their attorney is working to ensure he can return home after he is released from the hospital.
