MILWAUKEE— Cleared in January of facing any criminal charges tied to the shooting of Jacob Blake in August, 2020, Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey learned Thursday that Blake's attorneys have now filed a federal civil rights suit against him. The entire document can be found below.
“While Jacob Blake survived being shot six times, his devastating injuries are permanent and life-changing," one of Blake's attorneys, Patrick A. Salvi II, said in a statement Thursday night. "The bullet that severed Jacob’s spinal cord has left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Jacob now suffers from an intractable pain syndrome. After various surgical procedures and an agonizing course of physical rehabilitation, Jacob remains unable to return to his job as a security guard and relies on others to assist him with the basic needs of daily living."
Spectrum News 1 reached out to the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and the Kenosha Professional Police Association about the suit but had not heard back late Thursday.
Blake's attorneys, who include prominent national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, claim in their statement tied to the complaint Thursday that "Mr. Blake had a folding knife on his person as he was being attacked, though he never brandished or threatened to use the knife at any time. After Mr. Blake dropped the folding knife onto the floor of the SUV and as he sat down in the driver’s seat, Officer Sheskey began firing his gun with one hand, as he pulled Jacob by the shirt with the other."
In announcing that Officer Sheskey wouldn't face charges back in January, Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley also announced that Blake wouldn't face charges tied to the police call which the officers were responding to.
A release from Blake’s legal team last August said Blake was trying to de-escalate a domestic incident when the police arrived, drew their weapons, and tasered him. It went on to say that Blake was trying to check on his children in the car when police fired their weapons at him at point blank range.
“Nothing can undo this tragedy or take away the suffering endured by Jacob, his children, and the rest of the Blake family," Crump added in Thursday's statement about the just-filed civil suit. "But hopefully today is a significant step in achieving justice for them and holding Officer Sheskey answerable for his nearly deadly actions— actions that have deprived Jacob of his ability to walk. The path to ending police brutality is a long and grinding one, but the fight for systemic change in policing and transparency— and for justice— can only happen with accountability. And that is what we hope to achieve with this filing."
The complaint contains several screen-grabs of bystander video which captured the shooting as Blake's attorneys argue Sheskey's use of deadly force wasn't warranted.
Stay with Spectrum News for more on this developing story.