Jacob Blake 'optimistic' despite being 'unable to move' after police shooting, father says

Ewan Somerville5 September 2020

Jacob Blake’s father said his “happy-go-lucky” son is optimistic for his future, despite being paralysed from the waist down after being shot seven times in the back by a police officer.

Jacob Blake Sr, speaking on a video call from a Milwaukee hotel, said the past two weeks have been “surreal” and “like a dream” since the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he is mentally worn out.

He has driven from North Carolina to be with his son in hospital and said he has been receiving death threats. “It’s been hard on everybody,” he said.

Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot on August 23 in Kenosha, setting off days of raging protests that made Wisconsin the epicentre of the nation’s ongoing reckoning with police violence and racial injustice.

Over three days, dozens of fires were set and some Kenosha businesses were destroyed, before federal National Guard troops were deployed.

Wisconsin, Kenosha: Jacob Blake Protests - In pictures

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On August 25, prosecutors say a 17-year-old from Illinois shot and killed two demonstrators. Lawyers say the teenager, who was patrolling the streets with a rifle, was acting in self-defence.

Mr Blake was released from intensive care this week and “is doing a little bit better”, his father said, but that “from the waist down” he has “no movement… he can’t move.”

Mr Blake Sr told the Associated Press he talks with his son about what he will be able to do once he is released from hospital, rather than his limitations if he remains paralysed.

Jacob Blake made a public appearance from his hospital bed during a court hearing on September 4 
AP

“We’ll go fishing together in the chair,” he said. “I’ve got the perfect spot for us. Things of that nature, things that have nothing to do with the sickness or anything.”

Earlier this week, Mr Blake Sr said another one of his sons had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to hospital. Two days later, members of the Blake family met Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in Kenosha. Jacob Blake spoke to Mr Biden by phone from hospital.

US president Donald Trump travelled to Kenosha on Tuesday but refused to meet with Mr Blake’s family. Mr Blake Sr said Mr Trump made it clear he has no interest in his family.

But recalling the meeting with former vice-president Mr Biden, he added: “He came in that room with sympathy, empathy, a caring nature. It was not an interview, it was not a political thing.”

The Blake family told Mr Biden that they want all police to be required to have body cameras, something the Kenosha officers did not have.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.