The father of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot in the back several times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, told the media that his son is paralyzed.
Kenosha, which is about 45 miles south of Milwaukee, was the scene of the disturbing shooting captured by a witness on a cellphone video that has gone viral.
The victim’s father, who is also named Jacob Blake, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his son has “eight holes” in him after a Kenosha cop shot him multiple times.
“I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” said the elder Blake, who was driving from his North Carolina home to visit his 29-year-old son in the hospital. “I’ll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son.”
The Sun-Times reported that Blake was shot in front of his three sons after he tried to break up a fight on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, according to eyewitnesses. Cellphone footage of the shooting ecorded from across the street shows Blake walking around the front of his car and opening the driver’s side door. That’s when an officer grabs him and shoots him several times in the back.
Two officers on the scene were put on a leave of absence as the city erupted in protests that later turned violent, the newspaper reported.
“Those police officers that shot my son like a dog in the street are responsible for everything that has happened in the city of Kenosha,” Jacob Blake’s father told the Sun-Times. “My son is not responsible for it. My son didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have a gun.”
