Lawyer says the handcuffs restraining Jacob Blake have been removed
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The handcuffs attached to the hospital bed of Jacob Blake — who is paralyzed from the waist down following a police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin — were removed Friday afternoon, Blake's attorney, Patrick Cafferty, told CNN.
Details: At a press conference Friday, Kenosha Police chief Daniel Miskinis said Blake had been handcuffed to the bed and guarded by officers inside the hospital for "an outstanding warrant for third-degree sexual assault," according to NPR.
- Cafferty told CNN those warrants are now annulled.
The state of play: Before the handcuffs were taken off, Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr., told CNN his son has not been "afforded the rights of a human" after being shot in the back by a police officer at least seven times while reaching into his car on Aug. 23.
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said at a press conference on Thursday he "would have no personal understanding why" the handcuffs were necessary.
- "I would hope that we would be able to find a more, a better way to help him ... in recovering. That seems counterintuitive. It seems to be bad medicine," Evers added.
"He is and has been under the guard of an outside agency," he said. "He's being guarded because he's under arrest and it was for an outstanding warrant for third-degree sexual assault."
What he's saying: "He's a person. He's a human being. He's not an animal," the elder Blake said.
- "But my son has not been afforded the rights of a human. He's not been treated like a human. He's a father. He's not a deadbeat dad, he's a father that's with his children every day."
- "Sometimes you get a little angry, sometimes more than a little angry, because we've been going through this for so long. And it's only the brown faces ... that get treated in this way."
