'It's dangerous being a cop': Lindsey Graham asks why Jacob Blake refused to yield before Kenosha police shot him
Lindsey Graham has recently expressed his views on the Jacob Blake shooting. He said, “I don't know what happened there. Let's find out. It's dangerous being a cop. I don't know why the gentleman didn't yield when he was asked to yield, I don't know what the facts are.”
He continued: “Police are not above the law. There are places where police act with impunity. This is not one of those nations.” The comments from the South Carolina senator came as he addressed the reporters at a press conference with the South Carolina Fraternal Order of Police. The organization supports law enforcement officers and on Tuesday, August 25, Graham came there to announce the organization's endorsement of his re-election campaign.
Blake was shot at least seven times on Sunday, August 23, as he tried to enter a vehicle. Later, a police statement said, “At 5.11 pm, Kenosha Police Officers were sent to the 2800 block of 40th Street for a domestic incident and were involved in an officer-involved shooting. Officers provided immediate aid to the person.”
A cell phone video showed the 29-year-old Black man being hit several times by the police bullets, while his three children were inside the car. The video, though, did not clarify whether cops asked Blake to yield, but it showed an officer tugging on his shirt, The Daily Mail reported.
After the Sunday incident, an investigation was launched by the state Departement of Justice (DOJ). Blake is now in stable condition at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, but his family revealed that he will need a "miracle" to 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," his lawyer Ben Crump said on August 25.
The shooting has also sparked protests across the city with demonstrators setting cars on fire, vandalizing the courthouse, smashing windows, and clashing with officers. Some protesters also gathered outside the Kenosha Police Department building demanding justice for Blake.
Meanwhile, Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, has said sorry to President Donald Trump for missing his call. “Please, don't burn up property and cause havoc, and tear your homes down, in my son's name,” she said while in an interview with CNN. “And then also, for President Trump, I'm sorry I missed your call! Because had I not missed your call may be the comments you had made would have been different. I'm not mad at you at all. I have the utmost respect for you as the leader of our country.”
The apology from the mother came after she and Blake’s father Jacob Blake Sr spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday, August 25, since their son was shot. They said they are not only praying for their son, but also for the officers involved. “They shot my son seven times, seven times like he didn't matter. But my son matters. He's a human being and he matters,” Blake Sr said.
Jackson added: “Citizens, police officers, firemen, clergy, politicians: do Jacob justice on this level and examine your hearts. We need healing. As I pray for my son's healing, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I also have been praying, even before this, for the healing of our country.”