Jacob Blake spoke publicly for the first time since a Kenosha, Wi., police officer shot him seven times in the back, saying he’s in constant pain from the shooting, which doctors fear will leave him paralyzed from the waist down, the Associated Press reports. In a video posted on Twitter by his family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, Blake said from his hospital bed that, “Twenty-four hours, every 24 hours it’s pain, nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat.” Blake, a 29-year-old father of six, also said he has staples in his back and stomach. “Your life, and not only just your life, your legs, something you need to move around and forward in life, can be taken from you like this,” Blake said, snapping his fingers.
Blake, who is Black, was shot by a white police officer Aug. 23 after walking away from officers who were trying to arrest him. Officer Rusten Sheskey opened fire after Blake leaned into his SUV. The shooting was captured on video, prompting nights of protests in Kenosha, a city of 100,000 between Milwaukee and Chicago. Sheskey and two other officers were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Blake, who had an outstanding arrest warrant when he was shot, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of sexually assaulting a woman in May. The state Justice Department has said a knife was recovered from Blake’s vehicle in August. The man who made the cellphone video, Raysean White, said Blake scuffled with officers and they yelled, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted.