On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old African American man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin.[2] Sheskey shot at Blake's back seven times[3][4] when Blake opened the driver's door to his SUV and leaned in.[5] Three of Blake's sons were in the backseat at the time.[6][7][8] Earlier during the encounter, Blake had been tasered and had scuffled with officers.[9]
On August 23, Kenosha police responded to a 9-1-1 call about a "domestic incident" at approximately 5:11 PM. According to multiple official sources, the female caller referred to Blake as her "boyfriend", said he was not permitted to be on the premises, and that he'd taken her car keys and was refusing to give them back.[10][11] Officers were also informed by the dispatcher that there was a "wanted" alert for someone at the address, indicated by police code 10-99.[12] Blake had a warrant for his arrest from July, based on charges of third-degree sexual assault,[note 1] trespassing, and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse.[1][12] The woman who called 9-1-1 on August 23 to report that Blake had stolen her keys was the same woman who had previously filed the criminal complaint alleging that Blake had sexually assaulted her.[13] Both Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis and the Kenosha Professional Police Association stated that the officers dispatched on August 23 were aware of the pending warrant for Blake before they arrived on scene.[13][14][15]
According to a witness, Blake pulled his car up near "six or seven women shouting at each other on the sidewalk" and "Blake did not say anything to the women".[16] According to other witnesses, Blake was trying to intervene between two women who were arguing when police arrived.[7] According to the police union, the officers were dispatched because of a complaint that Blake was attempting to steal the caller’s keys and vehicle.[17]
Officers attempted to subdue Blake, and two officers used tasers on him.[18][7][19] A bystander who recorded a video of the incident told reporters that he heard police yelling "drop the knife". The bystander also stated, "I didn't see any weapons in his hands; he wasn't being violent".[20] The police union says that Blake was armed with a knife in his left hand, but officers did not initially see it, and he "forcefully fought with the officers, including putting one of [them] in a headlock", while ignoring orders to drop the knife.[21] "Based on the inability to gain compliance and control after using verbal, physical and less-lethal means, the officers drew their firearms," the police union added.[17][22] One of Blake's attorneys disputed this version of events, calling it "overblown", and saying that the police officers were the aggressors and immediately became physical with Blake upon arriving at the scene.[23] After an initial scuffle, Blake walked to the driver's side of his vehicle, followed by officer Rusten Sheskey and another officer with handguns drawn. Sheskey attempted to grab Blake, and when Blake opened the driver's side door and leaned in, Sheskey grabbed him and fired seven shots towards Blake's back.[7][24] According to Blake's attorney, only four of the shots hit Blake.[25][26][27][28] In a press conference on August 26, 2020, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said that a knife was recovered from the driver-side front floorboard of the car Blake was leaning into when he was shot in the back. Kaul also said that Blake told investigators that he had a knife, though Kaul declined to describe the knife or say whether it was related to the shooting; Blake's lawyers disputed the implication[further explanation needed] that the knife was in his possession.[29]
Rayshard Brooks was a 27-old African American resident of Atlanta who worked at a Mexican restaurant. He was married with three daughters and a stepson.[8][9]
Around 10:30 p.m. on June 12, 2020, Atlanta Police Department officer Devin Brosnan responded to a 911 complaint about a man sleeping in a car blocking a Wendy's fast-food drive-through lane in the southside of Atlanta, Georgia. The officer found Rayshard Brooks in the car, and awakened him. After instructing Brooks to park his car, Brosnan called for backup, and Garrett Rolfe, an officer on the Department’s High Intensity Traffic Team DUI task force, responded.[10]
Rolfe asked Brooks several questions, to which Brooks gave inconsistent answers, for example misidentifying his location by 10 miles (16 km), and Rolfe administered a field sobriety test.[10][11][12] Rolfe used a breathalyzer, and Brooks' blood alcohol level returned at 0.108, above the legal limit of 0.08.[10] After this, Rolfe informed Brooks that he considered his alcohol level too high to operate a vehicle, and ordered Brooks to place his hands behind his back. Brooks resisted arrest, wrestled on the ground with the two officers, and punched one of them.[13] During the struggle an officer told Brooks "You’re going to get tased! Stop fighting", and warned "hands off the taser."[12][10]
Brooks wrested away an officer's taser, and ran away as the officers chased him, witness reports and video show, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). Security surveillance video footage shows that Brooks then turned toward Rolfe while running, pointed the taser at Rolfe and fired it.[13][14] At that point, Rolfe fired his gun at Brooks three times, hitting him in the back.[15][11][16]
Brooks died in surgery.[1][2][3] One officer was treated for an injury.[12]