In his first statement since being shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis., Jacob Blake described his constant pain and urged people to appreciate how precious life is.
“I just want to say, man — a lot of young cats out there and even the older ones, older than me, it’s a lot more life to live out here, man,” Blake said from his hospital bed in a video tweeted by his family’s attorney Ben Crump.
“Your life, and not only just your life, your legs, something you need to move around and forward in life, can be taken from you like this,” he said as he snapped his fingers.
Blake said he is continual pain from injuries that doctors have feared will leave him paralyzed from the waist down.
“And I promise you the type of s–t you go through, staples, I got staples in my back, staples in my damn stomach, you do not want to deal with this s–t, man.
“Twenty-four hours, every 24 hours it’s pain, nothing but pain,” he added.
“It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat,” Blake went on. “Please, I’m telling you, change your lives.
“Stick together, make some money, make everything easier for our people out there, man, because there’s so much time that’s been wasted.”
Officer Rusten Sheskey shot from behind after he resisted arrest during an encounter on Aug. 23.
Blake was seen on camera walking to the driver’s side door as Sheskey followed him with his gun drawn, opening fire as Blake reached inside.
The shooting sparked outrage and a new wave protests across a country already marching for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others.
Federal prosecutors are conducting a civil rights investigation into the altercation.
Blake pleaded not guilty in a virtual court appearance Friday to previous criminal trespass and sexual assault charges filed against him in July.