Several online media outlets have named Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey as the officer that shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back at point blank range over the weekend. Social media users had originally named an Officer Luke Reitruoc, but those claims appear to have been retracted. The video below shows what happened to Blake on August 23, 2020. Blake walked around the front of his car with several officers following him, then he opened to driver's side door, and entered the car. That was when a Kenosha Police Officer grabbed his shirt, stuck his gun a few inches away from his back, and shot him seven times.
Blake was lucky to survive, but is now paralyzed and according to his attorney Ben Crump (https://twitter.com/thereidout/status/1298399975634763779). Crump says that it will take a miracle for Blake to ever walk again. Fortunately, Crump is one of the best civil rights lawyers in the country. If anyone has a chance to overcome qualified immunity in this case it is someone like Ben Crump.
Ben Crump will have his work cut out for him. Attorneys representing Sheskey will claim that Blake was holding what looks like a possible knife in his left hand and that he could have been going for a gun in the car. They will argue that shooting Blake under such circumstances was within Sheskey's discretion as an officer. That might have had teeth if he only shot him once or twice, but not when he shoots him seven times. Any trained law enforcement officer knows the risk of shooting someone seven times and usually that risk is a substantial risk of death. How could this not be considered attempted murder? It is at a minimum the type of subjective recklessness that the Supreme Court had in mind when deciding what the deliberate indifference standard should be (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/511/825/).
There was a second officer with a pistol drawn when Blake was shot, but we are not sure if he fired any shots. It does not look like the second cop was pulling the trigger. If you look at the video you can see Sheskey's hand moving like he is shooting while the other's hand is not moving.
Public records contain the following information about Sheskey
RUSTEN T SHESKEY
MALE
DOB: MAY-1989
AGE: 31
1907 21ST ST, KENOSHA, WI 53140-1874
We advise caution in that area as Sheskey is considered armed and dangerous. Note that this is not the first public web page linking that address to Sheskey and this shooting. We ask that it be used for the purpose of peaceful protesting only and that you not so much as trespass on his land.