Jacob Blake sues officer who shot him in Kenosha last year

[March 26, 2021]  (Reuters) - Jacob Blake Jr., the Black man from Kenosha, Wisconsin who was shot by a police officer last year and was left paralyzed from the waist down, has sued the cop who fired at him in a federal court.

Blake was shot several times in the back in the presence of his young children in August, sparking several days of deadly protests against police brutality and racism in his hometown and across the country.

Earlier this year, Wisconsin prosecutors cleared Rusten Sheskey, the officer involved in the shooting, saying he acted in self-defense.

Blake's latest 19-page lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin sought an unspecified amount in compensation for the injuries he suffered, and "a substantial sum" in punitive damages.

His lawyers also demanded to be paid for costs, legal fees, "and such other relief as is just and equitable."

Blake's lawyers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Demonstrators march during a rally against racial inequality and to call for justice a week after Black man Jacob Blake was shot several times by police in Kenosha, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Protests erupted last summer after a viral cellphone video showed Blake walking around the front of his car with Sheskey following and opening fire after Blake opened the door.

But investigators said the video was incomplete and failed to show that Blake was armed with a knife and had resisted arrest.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Derek Francis in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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