Attorney Ben Crump, family of Jacob Blake hold news conferenceLIVE: Attorney Ben Crump, family of Jacob Blake hold news conference outside Kenosha courthouse. https://abcn.ws/2FRF10R
Posted by ABC News on Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Attorneys for the family of Jacob Blake are planning to file a civil lawsuit after Kenosha Police shot and paralyzed him on Sunday.
“They shot my son seven times. Seven times. Like he didn’t matter. But my son matters. He’s a human being. And he matters,” Jacob Blake’s father said in a news conference Tuesday about the shooting.
“Shocking, outrageous and devastating,” Attorney Ben Crump said. “His three little boys who were seated in the car when police literally shot him at least seven times at point blank range while an officer is holding his t-shirt, and you see it on the video.”
Attorney Patrick Salvi said it is “miraculous” that Blake is alive, but that he has a long road ahead of him which will include multiple surgeries.
“He had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord,” said Salvi. “Has holes in his stomach. He had to have nearly his entire colon, his small intestine removed. He suffered damage to his kidney and liver and was also shot in the arm.”
Salvis aid the goal of the lawsuit is to “hold the wrongdoers accountable” and “to help Jacob get the resources he needs. He’s a young man.”
Fellow attorney B’Ivory LaMarr added that they will not stop until they get the results they ask for, including government action.
“How long is it going to take to terminate the officers involved in this tragedy?” asked LaMarr. “Let’s see if our advocacy is making a change.”
“We demand the police department to take swift action. We ask local and governmental officials to enforce legislation.”
Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, called the public to prayer and introspection about the state of race relations and America in general.
“We need healing. As I pray for my son, healing, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, I also have been praying even before this, for healing of our country,” said Jackson. “We are the United States. Have we been united?”
“Let’s use our hearts, our love and our intelligence to work together to show the rest of the world how humans are supposed to treat each other. America is great when we behave greatly.”