Jacob Blake releases video from his hospital bed
Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot seven times in the back by Wisconsin police officers, released a video from his hospital bed Saturday night.
KENOSHA, Wis. (NewsNation Now) — Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police officers, released a video from his hospital bed Saturday night.
“24 hours, every 24 hours, it’s pain,” Blake said from his bed. “It’s numbing pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep. It hurts to move from side to side. It hurts to eat. Please I’m telling you change our lives out there.”
The video was taken by Shermaine Mike Laster from Our Lives Matter and tweeted by Blake’s family attorney Ben Crump. You can watch the full video in the player above.
Crump previously said that it would “take a miracle” for Blake to ever walk again.
Crump said bullets pierced Blake’s spine and shattered one of his ribs, puncturing a lung, damaging his liver and creating holes in his stomach.
Blake appeared from his hospital bed via remote video Friday for his first court appearance on a sexual assault charge unrelated to the Aug. 23 shooting. He pleaded not guilty. Blake was released from the ICU on Wednesday.
All three officers present when Blake was shot are on administrative leave during the investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is standard practice.
The Wisconsin Attorney General said police were sent to the scene after a woman reported her boyfriend was present and wasn’t supposed to be on the premises.
Blake’s attorney Ben Crump has said that Blake was trying to break up a domestic dispute.
The Justice Department has said a knife was recovered from an SUV Blake was allegedly leaning into when he was shot, but has not said whether Blake was holding it when officers tried to arrest him.
The man who filmed widely seen cellphone video of the shooting, 22-year-old Raysean White, said he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted. He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands.
The Kenosha police union said Blake had the knife and refused orders to drop it. Blake fought with police, including putting one officer in a headlock, the union said. Police twice used a Taser, which did not stop Blake.
Blake’s shooting prompted new protests in cities across the country over racial injustice.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.