KENOSHA, WI – A civil lawsuit brought by Jacob Blake against a Kenosha Police Officer who had shot him has been dismissed after attorneys for both parties came to an agreement to drop the case.
According to court records, lawyers representing Blake and Officer Rusten T. Sheskey mutually agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice – meaning Blake cannot file the same claim against the officer a second time – with neither party having to pay court costs or fees to each other.
No additional information was made publicly available.
Blake, 29, was shot seven times on August 23, 2020 by Officer Sheskey, who was responding to a domestic incident. Blake – who had been actively resisting arrest while armed with a pocket knife – survived the shooting, but was left paralyzed below the waist. The incident led to mass protests in Kenosha over the course of several days following the incident.
The Blake shooting happened just three months after George Floyd died while being restrained by police officers in Minneapolis.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley announced in January 2021 that neither Sheskey nor Blake would be facing any charges in connection with the incident. Sheskey had told investigators that he had shot Blake because he feared he would stab him, a claim that Graveley said he was unable to disprove since Blake was armed with a knife at the time.
Blake filed suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, claiming that Sheskey used excessive force during the incident and demanding compensation for his injuries as well as punitive damages.
At the time of the shooting, Blake had a warrant for his arrest for third-degree sexual assault, which he later pleaded not guilty to from his hospital bed.
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