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A black man who was shot seven times in the back by US police had a knife and fought with officers beforehand, putting one in a headlock and ignoring two taser attempts, it is claimed.
Jacob blake, 29, has stayed paralyzed from the waist down following the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and is being treated at the hospital.
The new complaint came from the Kenosha Police Union, which provided the most detailed account yet from the officers’ perspective of the moments leading up to the shooting.
Last Sunday’s incident caused peaceful protests and also violent demonstrations, including fatal shooting of two people in America City on Tuesday.
Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Mr. Blake. Photo: Kenosha Police Department
Ben Crump, an attorney for the Blake family, called for the arrest of Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Blake, and for the other two officers involved in the shooting, Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek, to be fired.
All three officers have now been placed on administrative leave.
Crump has claimed that Blake was only trying to break up a domestic dispute and did nothing to provoke police, saying witnesses did not see him with a knife.
Mobile phone footage, filmed by Raysean White, showed Sheskey and another officer following Blake with guns drawn as he walked through the front of a parked pickup truck. All three of Mr. Blake’s sons were in the back.
The officers were dispatched there following a complaint from a caller that Blake was trying to steal their keys and vehicle, said Brendan Matthews, an attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association.
Blake was armed with a knife, but officers did not initially see him, Matthews said.
Officers first saw him holding the knife while on the passenger side of the vehicle, he added.
Mr. White said he saw Mr. Blake fight with three officers and heard them yelling “drop the knife, drop the knife” before they shot each other. You said you didn’t see a knife in Mr. Blake’s hands.
Investigators have said officers saw a knife on the floor of the car. They haven’t said whether Mr. Blake threatened anyone with that.
Officers asked Blake to drop the knife, but he was unwilling to cooperate, Matthews said, adding that officers used a taser gun on Blake but did not incapacitate him.
Blake fought vigorously with officers, even putting one of the officers in a headlock, Matthews said. A second stun from a Taser didn’t stop him either, he added.
When Mr. Blake opened the driver’s door of the truck, Mr. Sheskey put on Mr. Blake’s shirt and then opened fire.
Officers drew their firearms based on an inability to achieve compliance and control after using verbal, physical and less lethal means, Matthews said.
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