Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Wisconsin man who was shot by Kenosha police, is paralyzed from the waist down, his father told the Chicago Sun-Times.
His father, also named Jacob, said doctors do not yet know if the paralysis is permanent and that Blake “has eight holes” in his body from the shooting.
“I want to put my hand on my son’s cheek and kiss him on his forehead, and then I’ll be OK,” his father, who is driving from North Carolina to be with his son, said.
“I’ll kiss him with my mask. The first thing I want to do is touch my son,” the elder Jacob added.
Blake was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after he tried to break up a fight, according to some eyewitnesses. Cell phone footage of the shooting shows Blake walking around the front of his car and opening the driver’s side door when an officer grabs him and shoots him several times in the back. His sons were in the car at the time of the shooting.
Protests erupted following Sunday’s incident, with cars set on fire and windows smashed. On Monday, protests began peacefully with demonstrators marching through the city, but they once again turned violent after dark.
“Those police officers that shot my son like a dog in the street are responsible for everything that has happened in the city of Kenosha,” Jacob told the paper. “My son is not responsible for it. My son didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have a gun.”
