Jacob Blake's father questions why son is handcuffed to hospital bed despite being paralyzed from waist down
Jacob Blake's father has bemoaned that his son has been handcuffed to his hospital bed despite being paralyzed from the police shooting incident in Wisconsin that caused nights of unrest. “I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed," he said. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?”
29-year-old Blake was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times by Officer Rusten Sheskey, 31, in Kenosha on Sunday. Blake's father, who is also named Jacob, recalled visiting his son in the hospital on Wednesday.
Sr Blake also questioned why his son had been arrested.
The city of Kenosha has been ravaged by nights of protests sparked by the 29-year-old's shooting, with three people shot and two fatalities reported Tuesday night. The alleged shooter was later identified as 17-year-old law enforcement vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse, who reportedly came to the city from neighboring Illinois to defend local businesses from rioting mobs.
However, Rittenhouse was arrested on Wednesday and charged with first-degree intentional homicide. While Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has reached out to the family, Blake's father said he hasn't heard from the police department or Mayor John Antaramian. Evers spoke to reporters later on Thursday afternoon, saying he was concerned about the prospect of Blake behind handcuffed despite his predicament. "Hell yes," he responded, adding, "I would have no personal understanding of why that would be necessary."
“I can’t imagine why that’s happening and I would hope that we would be able to find a... better way to have him get better and recover," he added.
According to Sr Blake, his son revealed during the last visit that he could feel pain in his legs. But the father was not convinced of the pain his son was feeling was in his legs. He recalled how Jacob first thought he was hallucinating when he met his father in the hospital ward. "I told him, ‘You thought Daddy wasn’t going to see my son?’" the emotional father said. “He grabbed my hand, held it real tight, and started weeping, telling me how much he loved me.”
According to Sr Blake, seeing his son was like finding a glass of water in a desert. “It was way more than fulfilling,” he said. “It was a feeling I can’t describe.” Sr Blake will be speaking at the March on Washington on Friday, where he would address the matter of violence across the city.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice released a statement yesterday revealing that a knife had been found in the driver's side floorboard of Blake's vehicle. Sheskey, a seven-year veteran of the Kenosha Police Department who shot Blake, 29, while holding onto his shirt after officers had unsuccessfully used a Taser to subdue him.
"Mr. Blake walked around his vehicle, opened the driver's side door, and leaned forward," the DOJ said in the statement. "While holding onto Mr. Blake's shirt, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired his service weapon 7 times. Officer Sheskey fired the weapon into Mr Blake's back."
The DOJ clarified that no other officer fired their weapons and none of them were wearing body cameras because the police department is not equipped with them. Sheskey and other officers involved have since been placed on leave.