'It was another atrocity': Jacob Blake's family reacts to video of police altercation at Applebee's

 

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Almost three years after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the Kenosha Police Department is under fire again after a video surfaced of them arresting the wrong man inside a restaurant.

As CBS 58 reported, Kenosha police officers are seen in cell phone video in a physical altercation with a black man holding a baby in his arms inside a local Applebee's restaurant. An officer is also seen repeatedly punching the man while he is face down on the ground.

Police have said the man in the video is not the suspect they were looking for as he was not involved in the hit and run they were investigating, but the man is facing charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Police say an internal investigation into the incident was started the day after it happened.

The Kenosha community is again demanding answers and charges for the officer involved, as they did in 2020 after Jacob Blake was shot seven times by Officer Rusten Sheskey.

Jacob Blake's Uncle, Justin Blake, met CBS 58 reporter Stephanie Rodriguez in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse Thursday. He shared he had not been to the area in a long time. He said being there brought him back to days of unrest in Kenosha following his nephew's shooting.

"This whole place was filled, filled. Black, white, big, small," Justin Blake said.

Officer Sheskey was not charged in the shooting, as the Kenosha County District Attorney said he could not prove to a jury that Sheskey acted illegally when he chose to shoot Blake.

Justin Blake said his nephew did not get the justice he deserved, and because of that, he is not surprised the Kenosha Police Department is under scrutiny again.

"It was another atrocity. It's another time for the nation and the world to look at Kenosha and ask them who you are going to be. Who are you? Because all too often you hear the terrible that happens to people, and it's a reflection of your community until you as a community say it's not," he said.

"When Jake was shot, his three kids were in the back. So, it's despicable and we should recognize how wrong it is. But citizens of Kenosha and around the world would have to know this would happen. Some devastating against another African American would be down the road soon, and here it is."