What We Know about the Jacob Blake Shooting
Rioters didn’t wait to hear the full story of the Jacob Blake shooting before torching businesses in Kenosha, Wis. A gun-wielding, 17-year-old, pro-police counterprotester from Illinois has been arrested on suspicion of killing two in the city on Tuesday night. And half a week after the incident, officials still have not released key details about what happened to start it all.
But a fuller picture is slowly emerging. Here’s a brief look at what we know.
It began, as officer-involved shootings often do, with a call to the police. The dispatcher told the cops that a woman had called, and that Blake “isn’t supposed to be there and he took the complainant’s keys and is refusing to give them back.” (An attorney for Blake’s family has said Blake was trying to break up a fight between two women.) The dispatcher also told officers that there was a “wanted” alert for someone at the address; indeed, Blake had a warrant for his arrest based on charges of third-degree sexual assault, trespassing, and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse.
Exactly how the incident escalated isn’t known, but Blake quickly ended up physically scuffling with the officers, who unsuccessfully tried to tase him. Within a few minutes of the cops’ arrival on the scene, the fateful seconds captured in two viral videos unfolded: Blake walked away from the three officers, two of whom followed him with guns drawn. Blake was reportedly told to “drop the knife.” He walked around his SUV — holding something in his hand, though it’s not clear what — opened the door, and bent over. An officer grabbed Blake’s shirt to try to stop him, but soon fired seven times into Blake’s back, paralyzing him in the presence of his three kids.
Here’s a graphic video of the shooting:
Yesterday, Wisconsin’s Department of Justice identified the officer who fired his weapon as Rusten Sheskey and reported that “during the investigation following the initial incident, Mr. Blake admitted that he had a knife in his possession. [Division of Criminal Investigation] agents recovered a knife from the driver’s side floorboard of Mr. Blake’s vehicle. A search of the vehicle located no additional weapons.” It remains unclear whether Blake was carrying the knife during the altercation, or if he went to the vehicle to get it, or what.
These details leave a lot we don’t know — frankly, too much. In a case as fraught as this one, officials have a duty to be transparent about what happened as quickly as possible. At minimum, it would be good to hear the officers’ side of the story. Ideally we’d also have body-camera footage, but we never will, because Kenosha doesn’t plan to buy body cameras until 2022. (The BBC reports that they “do have microphones.”)
Nonetheless, there are some important things to keep in mind as the rest of the information comes out.
One is that when someone deliberately disobeys the instructions of a police officer with his gun drawn, and instead reaches into a vehicle or toward his waistband, the officer usually can’t wait to find out what the suspect is pulling. By that time, it’s too late.
This case somewhat resembles that of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla., who similarly defied commands and reached into a vehicle. The cop who shot him was acquitted. As my former colleague David French put it a few years ago, “Crutcher didn’t have a gun, but the law does not require cops to be omniscient. It requires that they be reasonable. It is reasonable to believe that a person who won’t obey commands, won’t get on the ground, and is walking back toward (and ultimately reaching in) his car is a threat.”
In this case, of course, the details are a bit different. The full analysis will involve ascertaining where the knife was and when, what the cops knew about it and when, whether they thought Blake was getting a different weapon from the SUV, and — most important — whether Officer Sheskey reasonably feared that Blake posed an imminent threat when he opened fire.
Going by what is currently known, however, I’m doubtful that Sheskey will be successfully prosecuted. Blake went into the SUV in open defiance of the officers, and a lethal weapon was found in that part of the vehicle. At the key moment, a noncompliant suspect was in close proximity to both a knife and the cops he was fighting with. A knife can kill someone quickly up close. Few juries would think it unreasonable for an officer to fear for his life in that situation.
Another thing to bear in mind these coming weeks is that even when a final decision to shoot is justified under the law, officers sometimes could have avoided the situation by making different tactical decisions earlier in the confrontation. Regardless of what happens in court, anytime someone is shot by the police it’s worth thinking about whether the incident should have been handled differently. Could the cops have gotten Blake under control earlier? Are there lessons here for future confrontations? This too will hinge on lots of information we don’t have yet.
I would say we should keep our heads cool until all the important details are known, but alas, it is too late for that.
