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Kenosha Police Were Not Equipped With Body Cams At The Time Of Jacob Blake's Shooting

Kenosha Police Is Currently Not Equipped With Body Cams, And Will Not Be Until 2020

By Jasper WolfPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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Jacob Blake

A man breaks up a fight between two women. Police were called to the scene. At some point while investigating the situation, the police became interested in the man. The police tased the man and tried to arrest him. The man steps around the vehicle to get in the car where his children are. Only to be grabbed by the shirt by the trained officer and shot in the back seven times in front of his children.

This man is Jacob Blake. All we know is what we see by neighbor's videos. We get an outside view. Rumors fly around stating that Blake had a knife. But whatever the situation may be, the police are trained in this area. How to apprehend the suspect and arrest him. His last resort should be his weapon.

What we do know is when Blake went to go around the car, he got in the vehicle. At that moment is when the officer was within reach of him, so much that he pulled on his shirt. He wasn't the only officer there, he had two others as well. If they wanted to apprehend him, why didn't he grab Blake's arm and put him on the car or ground and the other officer's assist him?

But instead, the officer grabbed him by the shirt and shot him seven times in his back.

The officer who shot him and the video of right before the shooting

Shortly after the shooting, The Governor of Wisconsin stated that the officer used excessive force. He also stated that it has not been the only time this has happened in their state or in their Law Enforcement community.

The exact statement:

“Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, in Kenosha. Kathy and I join his family, friends and neighbors in hoping earnestly that he will not succumb to his injuries,” Evers said according to BET. “While we do not have all the details yet, what we know for certain is he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or in our country.” - Governor Tony Evers

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers

After the shooting, Jacob Blake was rushed to the hospital and immediately into surgery. It is stated that following surgery, Blake was stable and recovering. For a short time, he was shackled to his bed, but according to his attorney, that didn't last long.

Word came out after surgery that Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. They aren't sure if it's temporary paralysis or permanent.

Authorities had laid off the officer who shot Jacob Blake. They also tried to come out with a statement saying Blake was armed with a knife. But we will never know how true that is because the Kenosha Police Department does not have body cameras.

It's reported that they did put it in the budget for 2017, but have yet to actually purchase them. They felt as if they were not needed as of yet, so they planned to implement them in 2022, but here it is 2020 and the public wants answers.

Protests

The streets of Kenosha and other cities exploded in rage demanding justice. Protesters demanding the shooting officer be arrested. Fires broke out, shootings occurred, and police clashed with protesters in the streets.

Blake's mother came out publicly and stated that these violent protests need to stop. She would like these protests in her son's name to be peaceful. There is no need to loot, set the city on fire, or assault anybody.

Blake's Mother

Without the body cameras, we won't get the officer's view of the incident. We won't see through his eyes. We will only hear he said, she said. We have the videos of him being shot, but it doesn't show the whole situation.

What we do know is Blake went there to try to defuse and break up a fight between two women. After the police arrived is when it all went south. Why did they start looking at him? What was he guilty of? Being a good citizen and breaking up a situation? Or is it more hateful than that? We will never really know the full story.

Without the body cameras, it is left up to social media and citizen cameras to tell us the story. And the story is, with multiple fully trained officers on the scene, they used excessive force and shot an unarmed man seven times in the back. Who is now paralyzed, and may never walk again. Jacob Blake did not need to be shot.

racial profiling
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About the Creator

Jasper Wolf

Founder/Owner of Howling Wolf Freelance Writing

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