In an emotional video shared by his lawyer on Sunday, Jacob Blake described his condition as he recovers from the near-fatal shooting incident that has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
The 29-year-old also took time to make a heartfelt appeal from his hospital bed.
Blake was shot in the back seven times by a Wisconsin police officer on August 23 as he made his way to his SUV after officers responded to a domestic violence incident in his Kenosha neighborhood.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Blake touched on how things can take a dramatic turn in life and called on people to change their lives.
“I just wanna say, man … to all the young cats out there and even the older ones older than me: There’s a lot more life to live out here, man. Your life and not only just your life, your legs … something that you need to move around and move forward in life could be taken from you like this,” he says in the video, snapping his fingers.
Blake then went ahead to describe his pain and condition – something he said he won’t wish on anyone.
“I got staples in my back, staples in my damn stomach, you do not wanna have to deal with this sh*t man,” Blake says. “24 hours, every 24 hours, it’s pain, it’s nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to sleep. It hurts to move from side to side. It hurts to eat.”
He adds: “Please, I’m telling you: Change y’all lives out there. We can stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people out here, man. Because so much time has been wasted.”
The video released on Sunday was Blake’s second public appearance, with his first on Friday when he pleaded not guilty to a domestic incident before a court from his hospital bed via Zoom. Blake was charged with a felony third-degree sexual assault, misdemeanor criminal trespass and disorderly conduct almost two months before the shooting incident, The Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Blake’s shooting ignited days of curfew-defying protests, with incidents of violence, looting and destruction of property reported.
Two protesters were also fatally shot by a 17-year-old vigilante, Kyle Rittenhouse, during an altercation. All the officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident.
