Rusten Sheskey.Photo: Kenosha Police Department
Federal prosecutors will not file charges against Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer who shotJacob Blakelast summer.
Blake, who is Black, washospitalizedon Aug. 23 after Sheskey, a white police officer at the Kenosha Police Department, shot him multiple times in the back while responding to what authorities said was a domestic disturbance. His children were in the car and witnessed the shooting.
Blake, 30, ended up spending six weeks in the hospital and is leftparalyzed from the waist down.
Six months after the Kenosha Police Department said that Sheskeywould not be disciplined, federal prosecutors announced Friday that he will not be facing charges, either.
Jacob Blake.Ben Crump/Twitter
“After a careful and thorough review, a team of experienced federal prosecutors determined that insufficient evidence exists to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully violated the federal criminal civil rights statutes,” said a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday.
“Accordingly, the review of this incident has beenclosed without a federal prosecution,” the statement added.
Justin Blake, Jacob’s uncle, called the DOJ’s decision “unconscionable,” the Associated Press reported.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
“If we had a heart to be broken, it would be,” he said, per the outlet, “but because we’ve been through all we’ve been, we’re not.”
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said back in January that Sheskeywould not face any criminal chargesin the shooting. Graveley said that the decision was made in part due to cell phone footage that showed Blake had a knife.
“Officer Sheskey felt he was about to be stabbed,” he said, adding that Sheskey would be able to successfully argue self-defense if he were brought in front of a jury.
Rittenhouse has said he shot the men in self-defense and is scheduled to go to trial in November.
Blakefiled a federal civil rights complaintagainst Sheskey in March.
According to the federal complaint, six of the seven shots struck Blake, with at least one severing his spinal cord. The seventh shot struck the side door of the car that held Blake’s children, the filing said.
To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:
source: people.com
