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Jacob Blake has spoken publicly for the first time since he was shot seven times in the back by a police officer. The 29-year-old says he is in constant pain from the shooting, which doctors fear will leave him paralyzed from the waist down.
In a video posted Saturday night on Twitter For his family’s attorney, Ben Crump, Blake said from his hospital bed that “every 24 hours is pain, nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from one place to another, it hurts to eat ”.
Blake, a father of six, said he has staples in his back and stomach.
“Your life, and not just your life, your legs, something you need to move and move forward in life, can be taken away this way,” Blake said, snapping his fingers.
He added: “Stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people, man, because there is a lot of time wasted.”
Blake, who is black, was shot in the back by a white police officer on August 23 after running away from three officers trying to stop him. The officer who shot him, Rusten Sheskey, fired after Blake opened the driver’s side door of his car and leaned into the vehicle. The shooting was captured on video and posted online, sparking several nights of protests and riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city of approximately 100,000 residents between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Sheskey and the other officers at the scene were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. None of them have been charged.
Blake, who had an outstanding warrant when he was shot, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that accused him of sexually assaulting a woman in May and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Blake appeared remotely via video conference from his hospital bed, dressed in a dress shirt and tie. He spoke only to answer the judge’s questions.
The state Justice Department has said a knife was recovered from Blake’s vehicle, but has not said whether he was holding it when officers attempted to arrest him.
Raysean White, 22, said he saw Blake fight with three officers and heard them yelling, “Drop the knife,” before the shots broke out. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
The Kenosha Police Union said Blake had the knife and refused to let it be dropped. Blake fought with police, even putting a headlock on an officer, the union said. Police used a taser gun twice, which failed to arrest Blake.
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