Police Officer Rusten Sheskey told investigators he wasn't only defending his life, but also the life of a child when he shot Jacob Blake seven times last month in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
According to CNN, Sheskey, who remains on paid administrative leave, said he used deadly force during the encounter because he was afraid Blake was trying to kidnap a child in the backseat of his vehicle.
"He's got my kid. He's got my keys," Sheskey heard a woman say, according to his attorney Brendan Matthews. The lawyer claims that if Sheskey allowed Blake to drive away and something happened to the child "the question would have been 'why didn't you do something?'"
Matthews additionally "disputed assertions by Blake's family and lawyers" that Blake was unarmed and posed no threat to the officers at the time of the shooting, CNN reports. He claims that Sheskey also opened fire because Blake held a knife in his hand and twisted his body toward the officer.
To note, neither the knife or Blake's alleged motion toward the officer is visible in the widely circulated footage of the incident. However, as noted by CNN, Blake's body was "partially obscured by the driver's side door of the SUV."
Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back seven times by officer Sheskey on August 23. Cellphone video of the shooting shows three officers with their weapons drawn, with one officer eventually grabbing Blake's shirt as he tries to enter an SUV, and then opening fire. Blake's children were inside the vehicle when he was shot.
The incident sparked national outrage and days of protesting across the country. Most recently, authorities in Wisconsin announced that the results the state Department of Justice's investigation would soon be turned over to a retired police chief serving as an independent consultant for his review. The consultant will then "forward the case to local prosecutors along with an analysis intended to help determine whether criminal charges against Sheskey are warranted," CNN reports.
Photo: Getty Images