Jacob Blake Paralyzed From the Waist Down After Police Shooting, Father Says

Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here Jacob Blake is currently paralyzed from the waist down after Kenosha police shot him several times in the back on Sunday, his father told the Chicago Sun-Times. Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob and lives in Charlotte, told the Sun-Times his son had “eight holes” in his body and that doctors don’t know if he’ll be paralyzed for the rest of his life. He told the paper he was making the drive from North Carolina to be with his son at a hospital outside of Milwaukee.

“I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” Blake’s father said. “I’ll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son.”

In Kenosha, meanwhile, the Wisconsin National Guard was deployed ahead of Monday night protests and police fired tear gas to make protesters disperse, but many protesters regardless defied the 8 p.m. curfew. Multiple fires were reportedly set, including at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections building in Kenosha. 

The shooting of Blake went viral almost immediately, after a neighbor captured it on cell phone video, which was posted to social media on Sunday evening. After Kenosha police were called to a residence in the city for a “domestic violence” incident, the video shows officers drawing their guns on Blake as he walks to the driver’s side of an SUV, and then shooting him several times in the back as he opens the door. 

Witnesses have said Blake was trying to break up a fight. Three of Blake’s children watched the shooting happen from a nearby vehicle, his fianceé, Laquisha Booker, told a Milwaukee TV station.

“What justified all those shots?” Blake’s father said to the Sun-Times. “What justified doing that in front of my grandsons? What are we doing?”

On Monday, following Sunday night protests in Kenosha that saw the county courthouse damaged and several fires set in the area around the courthouse, Gov. Tony Evers said he deployed the National Guard to focus “on supporting the needs of local first responders to protect critical infrastructures, such as utilities and fire stations, and to ensure Kenoshians are able to assemble safely.”

On Monday, cops pepper-sprayed a group of protesters at a press conference. Police began firing tear gas at protesters after the expiration of an 8 p.m. curfew, but hundreds continued to protest, according to the AP. 

Protests around the country in solidarity with those in Kenosha began to emerge on Monday, Hundreds of protesters marched in Manhattan to protest Blake’s shooting, and in Minneapolis, nearly a dozen people were arrested after some protesters broke windows at the Hennepin County Jail. 

As for what’s happening in Kenosha, Blake’s father has no doubts about who’s to blame for the protests. 

“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,” 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.”

Cover: A protester attempts to continue standing through a cloud of tear gas fired by police outside the Kenosha County Courthouse, late Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. (AP Photo/David Goldman)