Jacob Blake Shooting: Two Kenosha police officers on administrative leave are back

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Officers Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek returned to work on January 20 after being placed on administrative leave on August 23, 2020, the statement said.

“Constables Arenas and Meronek were not charged with a felony and after review by the Kenosha County District Attorney and an Independent Investigator, former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, the action taken by the police were reasonable and justified, “the statement read.

Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Blake seven times, is still on administrative leave “pending the findings of a Kenosha Police Use of Lethal Force Review Panel,” the statement said. .

The decision not to charge Sheskey followed by the decision to allow the other two officers to return to work came amid anger over the repeated deaths of blacks at the hands of police.

Protests in many cities last summer called for police reform and an end to police brutality, sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.

DA says Blake was armed with a knife

Sheskey, a white officer, shot Blake, a 29-year-old black man, seven times while responding to a domestic incident on August 23, 2020. Blake survived the shooting but was left paralyzed from waist to toe .

On that day, Meronek was one of the main officers arriving at the scene in a marked SUV from the Kenosha Police Department, while Arenas served as a backup.
Investigation report offers insight into Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin

Sheskey told investigators he used deadly force during the chaotic encounter because he was afraid Blake, while trying to flee the scene, was trying to kidnap a child from the backseat of the vehicle.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice had said Blake had a knife in his possession and the gun was found on the floor of his vehicle. Blake himself told authorities he owned a knife, Graveley said.

An attorney for Blake’s family disputed that Blake posed a threat.

“There was no point in the video to articulate that an officer was saying he was in danger at the time. I think that’s completely wrong and I think it’s just a rationalization to try and show it. which is really, in essence, a willful act, ”attorney B’Ivory LaMarr said after Graveley announced his decision.

“It’s not against the law to have a knife, people have knives for a variety of different reasons. Jacob Blake is aware of having a knife.”

CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Brad Parks contributed to this report.

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