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Home • News

Jacob Blake Paralyzed From Waist Down, Father Says

Doctors still don't know if Jacob Blake's injury is permanent as the family continues to try to make sense of the shooting.
2 Officers Involved in Jacob Blake Shooting Return to Work
KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images
By Breanna Edwards · Updated November 4, 2020

The father of Jacob Blake says that his son is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officers multiple times in the back.

Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob, told the Chicago Sun-Times that on the morning of the shooting, he had just been talking to his son about celebrating his grandchild’s 8th birthday.

By the evening, the older Blake had gotten the news that his son had been shot by Kenosha police officers. He then saw the graphic video of the shooting.

“What justified all those shots?” the older Blake said. “What justified doing that in front of my grandsons? What are we doing?”

Jacob Blake Paralyzed From Waist Down, Father Says
Kenosha County police officers in riot gear stand in front of the County Court House during demonstrations against the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 24, 2020. – Police faced off with hundreds of peaceful protesters ahead of a curfew in this city in Wisconsin Monday, as rage grew once more in the US at the shooting of a black man by a white officer. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Blake’s father is now making the trip from Charlotte, North Carolina, to be with his son.

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

According to the report, doctors still don’t know if Blake’s injury is permanent.

TOPICS:  Jacob Blake Jacob Blake father Kenosha Police Department pollice brutality