The Kenosha police union has offered a detailed account on the officers’ perspective of the moments leading up to the shooting of black man, Jacob Blake .
The 29-year-old father-of-six was tasered and shot seven times in the back after police were called to a domestic dispute in the Wisconsin city on Sunday.
On Friday, an attorney for the Kenosha Professional Police Association released a statement alleging that Blake had a knife and ‘forcefully fought’ with officers prior to the shooting.
The cops claim Blake put one of them in a headlock and shrugged off two attempts to stun him.
The statement goes into more detail than anything that has been released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is still investigating the incident.
One of Blake’s attorneys has described the police union’s account as ‘overblown’.
Scroll down for video
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey (left) shot Blake seven times in the back. His colleague, Officer Vincent Arenas (right) reportedly tasered Blake beforehand
Jacob Blake was tasered and shot seven times in the back after police were called to a domestic dispute in the Wisconsin city on Sunday. He is now paralyzed and remains in intensive care. The 29-year-old father-of-six is pictured in a social media photo
According to the officers’ version of events, Blake had a knife and ‘forcefully fought’ with officers prior to the shooting. The aftermath of the shooting is pictured
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, who leads the state Justice Department, said in a statement Friday evening that the agency is trying to conduct an impartial investigation and can neither confirm nor deny the union’s version of events.
Blake’s family attorney, Ben Crump, said earlier this week that Blake was only trying to break up a domestic dispute and did nothing to provoke police, adding that witnesses didn’t see him with a knife.
Crump has called for the arrest of the officer who shot Blake and for the two other officers involved in the shooting to be fired.
Blake has been left paralyzed by the shooting and remains in hospital.
Meronek pictured. Neither she nor Arenas fired their weapons
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey has been identified as the officer who fired the bullets that struck Blake in the back.
Officer Vincent Arenas reportedly tasered Blake beforehand. The third cop on the scene has been named as Brittany Meronek. Meronek is a rookie cop who only joined the force in January.
According to the police union’s attorney, Brendan Matthews, the officers were dispatched to the house where Blake was because of a complaint that he was attempting to steal the caller’s keys and vehicle.
Matthews said officers were aware that Blake had an open warrant for felony sexual assault before they arrived.
Blake was armed with a knife, but officers did not initially see it, Matthews said.
‘The officers first saw him holding the knife while they were on the passenger side of the vehicle,’ he said.
The bystander who recorded 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.
The bystander who recorded 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
The officers are seen in the cell phone video at the side of Blake’s car just prior to the shooting
He said he didn’t see a knife in Blake’s hands. State investigators have said only that officers saw a knife on the floor of the car. They have not said whether Blake threatened anyone with it.
Matthews said officers made multiple requests to Blake to drop the knife, but he was uncooperative. He said officers used a Taser on Blake, but it did not incapacitate him.
‘Blake forcefully fought with the officers, including putting one of the officers in a headlock,’ Matthews said. A second stun from a Taser also did not stop him, he said.
As Blake opened the driver’s door of the SUV, Sheskey pulled on Blake’s shirt and then opened fire. Blake’s three children were in the backseat.
‘Based on the inability to gain compliance and control after using verbal, physical and less-lethal means, the officers drew their firearms,’ Matthews said.
‘Mr. Blake continued to ignore the officers´ commands, even with the threat of lethal force now present.’