Jacob Blake's father calls Biden and Harris comforting, says it was like 'speaking to my uncle and sisters'
The father of a Wisconsin man who was shot several times by police officers has revealed Joe Biden and his running-mate Kamala Harris reached out to the family to comfort them and offer their support. Jacob Blake, 29, was shot at least seven times in the back by an officer from the Kenosha Police Department last weekend as he tried to get into his vehicle, where his three young children were waiting for him. The incident has sparked widespread riots in the city, as well as renewed 'Black Lives Matter' protests across other states and has been at the center of a political tussle between the Republicans and Democrats as the presidential election in November nears.
But despite their packed schedules, Jacob Blake Sr. told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on 'New Day' that Biden and Harris spoke to him for one hour and it was akin to "speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters." "They were so comforting that you almost forgot how the situation was really playing out," he said. "It was like I was speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters -- literally, literally. Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family. That he identifies with what I'm going through. I didn't have to keep telling him. He knew. It felt like he knew."
Biden had taken to Twitter to share that he had spoken to Blake Sr. in a video that has now been viewed over three million times. "Once again, a Black man — Jacob Blake — was shot by the police," the post was captioned. "In front of his children. It makes me sick. Is this the country we want to be? Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence — and peacefully come together to demand justice."
In the video, the Democratic presidential nominee shared what he had told the family. "I told them: Justice must and will be done. You know, our hearts are with his family, especially his children. It's horrible what they saw, watching their father get shot."
"It felt like they knew what was going on," Blake Sr. said of the call. "And they didn't act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us. And the tears that came from (Jacob Blake's) mother in this talk with the Bidens, that was important."
Asked if President Donald Trump had tried to reach out to the family, Blake Sr. replied, "That's a negative."
Lawyers representing Blake and his family have revealed that at least one of the bullets went through his spinal cord and resulted in a partial or complete severing, which means he is now paralyzed. They said doctors are unsure if he will ever walk again. "His family believes in miracles, but the medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed and, because those bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered some of his vertebrae, it is going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr to ever walk again," lawyer Ben Crump shared at a press conference on Tuesday, August 25.
In his conversation with CNN, Blake Sr. revealed the first thing his son did after he regained consciousness was weep. "Then his next question was, 'Why did they shoot me so many times?' And I said, 'Baby, they weren't supposed to shoot you at all."