US to not pursue charges against officer who shot Jacob Blake last year
People hold placards as they gather for a protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse after a Black man, identified as Jacob Blake, was shot several times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin
The US Justice Department on Friday said that it will federal criminal civil rights charges against a white police officer who shot and paralysed a black man named Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.
Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake during a domestic disturbance in August 2020.
Blake was shot several times until his spine was shattered. Also, his stomach, colon, liver and arm were damaged.
Blake's father accused the police of "senseless attempted murder".
"They shot my son seven times like he didn't matter," Blake's father said, stating further, "But my son matters. He's a human being."
State prosecutors decided not to file charges against Sheskey in January after a video showed Blake had been armed with a knife.
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The US Department of Justice launched its own investigation days after the shooting.
As per a statement released on Friday, the DoJ said “experienced federal prosecutors from the civil rights division and the US attorney’s office reviewed evidence obtained by the FBI and state investigators to determine whether the police officer violated any federal laws, focusing on the application of deprivation of rights under color of law, a federal criminal civil rights statute that prohibits certain types of official misconduct."
“They conducted a detailed and lengthy analysis of numerous materials, including police reports, law enforcement accounts, witness statements, affidavits of witnesses, dispatch logs, physical evidence reports, photographs and videos of some portions of the incident.”
The statement concluded by saying that the department would not pursue charges against Sheskey. This is because there was not enough evidence to prove he had used excessive force or violated Blake’s federal rights.