Jacob Blake No Longer Handcuffed To Hospital Bed; Warrant Vacated

MILWAUKEE, WI — Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Kenosha man who was shot several times by a police officer on Sunday, is no longer handcuffed to a hospital bed in Milwaukee after an arrest warrant from July was vacated on Friday.

"The warrant is vacated, the cuffs are removed, and the Deputies have left the hospital," Patrick Cafferty, an attorney who is representing Blake, told Patch.

Later Friday, Milwaukee County Sheriff's officials confirmed that Blake "posted the bond underlying the arrest warrant, enabling his release from custody."

The hospital watch was discontinued immediately after receiving this information from Kenosha authorities, officials said.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and co-counsels Patrick Salvi and B’Ivory Lamarr have released the following statement on the announcement that the warrants against Jacob Blake were vacated:

We have learned today that the warrants for Jacob Blake were vacated, although the charges against him are still pending. Fortunately, a man who is paralyzed and fighting for his life after being shot seven times in the back, will no longer have to deal with the pain of having his ankles and wrist shackled and the traumatic stress of being under armed guard.

According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, Blake's father, also named Jacob Blake, visited his son in the hospital earlier this week and discovered that he had been handcuffed, and had armed sheriff's deputies standing outside his hospital room door. “I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed,” Blake said in the report. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?”

Earlier this week, attorney Benjamin Crump said the result of Sunday's police shooting left Blake paralyzed.

"Think for a second what these police officers could have done, instead of firing several bullets in the back of Jacob Blake Jr. that is leaving him at this moment paralyzed," Crump said. "Because those bullets severed his spinal cord and shattered his vertebrae, it is going to take a miracle for Jacob Blake Jr. to ever walk again. He is currently in surgery as we speak. He is still struggling to sustain his life."

Attorney Patrick Salvi said Blake had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord, shattering at least one vertebra. The attorney said Blake now has multiple stomach puncture wounds, has kidney and liver damage, and had to have nearly his entire colon and small intestine removed during multiple surgeries over the past 48 hours.

Also earlier this week, Kenosha police said Blake was effectively in custody based on an outstanding arrest warrant stemming from charges that were filed against him in July.

According to court records, Blake had been charged with criminal trespass, third-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct. Those charges were filed on July 6, and a warrant for his arrest was filed a day later. The warrant has been vacated, though the charges still stand. Authorities expect to know how the case against Blake will proceed in the coming weeks.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers confirmed that he was concerned that Blake had been handcuffed to his hospital bed despite the severe nature of his injuries.

“Hell yes,” Evers said Thursday afternoon during a press conference. "I can’t imagine why that’s happening."

Blake, 29, was shot several times by Kenosha police Sunday during the course of a domestic dispute on the city's north side.

A witness to the shooting recorded the incident on video. In that video, police are seen following Blake around his SUV, grabbing him by the shirt, and opening fire on him several times as he enters his car while his children were apparently seated inside.

Blake survived the shooting. The video of Blake's shooting has gone viral, and Kenosha has seen widespread protests ever since.

Public officials of all kinds have weighed in on the shooting, some calling for immediate punishment for the officer who pulled the trigger, others for police and social reforms, and others who are calling for a playing-out of the police investigation into the shooting.

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