Crime & Safety
Feds Won't Pursue Charges Against Kenosha Cop In Blake Shooting
The U.S. Department of Justice said the evidence it obtained isn't enough to prove the Kenosha police officer willfully used undue force.
KENOSHA, WI — Prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice will not pursue federal civil rights charges against Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey in the 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
Investigators couldn't find enough evidence to prove that Sheskey used excessive force when he shot Blake seven times in the back, the department said in a statement.
The investigators reviewed police reports, witness statements, dispatch logs, photographs and videos of the incident, but couldn't establish that the officer "willfully" deprived Blake of his constitutional rights, the department said.
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"Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence, nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a willful federal criminal civil rights violation," the department said. The review of the shooting has been closed without federal prosecution.
Sheskey shot Blake seven times in the back during an altercation in Kenosha in August 23, 2020. Blake survived, but he was left paralyzed from the waste down.
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A video shows Blake walking away from officers around a parked SUV. The video shows Blake with his back turned and officers pointing guns at him, then opening the SUV's driver door.
A moment later, the video captures Sheskey trying to hold Blake's shirt. Blake pulls away and Sheskey fires seven shots at him, and the man to collapse in the driver's seat of the car.
The shooting sparked chaotic protests in Kenosha that resulted in a chain reaction of properties being burned, the National Guard being called and a shooting that left two protesters dead and one wounded.
The officer was cleared of wrongdoing in spring of 2021 and returned to the force in March. The Kenosha Police Department said Sheskey was reviewed by an independent expert that found him acting within the law.
Blake filed a civil lawsuit against the officer March 26, alleging that he used excessive force. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and claimed Sheskey's actions were willful and reckless.
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