In an interview on Nightline with ABC News, Jacob Blake, who was shot 7 times by police, revealed that he did have a knife.
“I’m rattled, you know?” Blake said. “I realized I had dropped my knife, had a little pocket knife. So I picked it up after I got off of him because they Tased me and I fell on top of him.”
We all remember the USAToday fact check – “Fact check: Jacob Blake did not ‘brandish’ knife, get gun before Kenosha police shooting”
Blake attorneys as well as family members also claimed the same:
Blake’s representatives have said he was unarmed. His father told the Chicago Sun-Times for an Aug. 25 story, “My son didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have a gun.”
Blake’s attorney, Ben Crump, said in a statement released Aug. 27, 2020 “Jacob did nothing to provoke police. … Witnesses confirm that he was not in possession of a knife and didn’t threaten officers in any way.” But Patrick Salvi Jr., another attorney representing the Blake family, told CNN the day before that Blake didn’t have a weapon in the vehicle, which turned out not to be true.
Blake did his first new interview since the altercation with Officer Rusten Sheskey and patently disproves the above claims:
Narrator: Officer Sheskey and Blake ended up in a physical altercation on the ground.
Host: We see you walk away from the officers after they try to grab you.
Jacob Blake: “At that point I’m rattled, you know? I realized I had dropped my knife, had a little pocket knife. So I picked it up after I got off of him because they Tased me and I fell on top of him.”
Jacob Blake: “In the video you hear them saying ‘drop the knife’. I think other people were saying that. But I didn’t hear none of that.”
Narrator: Blake turned away from the officers and walked and walked around the front of the vehicle toward the drivers side door.
Host: “What are you thinking at that point”
Jacob Blake: “I had picked my knife up. I’m like I’m not really worried, I’m walkin’ away from them, so it’s not like they gonna shoot me. I shouldn’t have picked it up. At that time I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Officer Sheskey had said that Blake drove the knife toward Shesky’s body, according to the Wisconsin criminal investigative report. Blake denied this.
Full Interview: Jacob Blake tells his story after being shot 7 times by police
Blake, who is now partially paralyzed, recounted being shot by police after they used a stun gun on him. Police say he drew a knife on them. The officers are on paid leave and will not face charges.
