National Guard called to Kenosha after riots break out in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake

Burned out cars in Kenosha. BBC/EPA.

The National Guard has been called to Kenosha after a night of riots and arson in response to the police involved shooting of Jacob Blake. BBC. Blake was shot on video as he was trying to escape and enter his car. The officer involved shot him seven times in the back, but Blake is in stable condition. The video went viral and resulted in riots which involved widespread arson and rioters confronting police with firearms. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he would deploy 200 troops to help the police quell the riots. Very little information has been released about the incident or why police opened fire. 

A Wisconsin officer was caught on video shooting 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back seven times as he was getting into a car with his 3 kids. He's miraculously survived but is in serious condition.https://t.co/pcufy4Y4Lq pic.twitter.com/RMcs82wqOL

— Aamir Ghazanfar (@AamirGhazanfarS) August 25, 2020

My Comment:
Ugh, what a mess. I hate that this incident went viral so fast before any facts were known. I'm starting to think that everyone having video cameras in their pocket is a bad thing as if this wasn't the case this incident would have been a local story at best and there would have been an actual opportunity for an investigation to happen. Instead we get to see yet another city burned for no reason. 

The BBC article left out some critical context to the case. Jacob Blake was a wanted fugitive that had been charged with 3rd degree sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct, all with the domestic abuse modifier. The media is portraying him as a perfect father who never did anything wrong but he had been charged with some pretty serious crimes. The sexual assault is a felony and it's pretty important to note that the person is the media is defending here is an accused rapist.

I'm also extremely frustrated that the media is portraying this as unjustified, despite the fact that no investigation has been done. Having watched both angles captured by people on the scene it's clear that Blake was resisting arrest. It looked like he was fighting with the cops and when he ran to the car it's not unreasonable to assume that the officer involved feared for his life. That may or may not be the case but the media is acting like there isn't an argument.

The above video shows why police don't let people run back to their vehicles when they are resisting arrest. The officer involved in that video died because he didn't open fire. That video is also an extremely common training video and I wouldn't be surprised if the officer that opened fire had that video in his head when he opened fire.

So was this shooting justified? I can't say for sure. Almost no investigation has been done and the few seconds of video leave out most of the context. It's possible that Blake was armed and it's possible he wasn't. There is always a chance that more evidence will come out either way that could either vindicate the cops or condemn them. Without that information I don't want to make a judgement either way.

This is extremely important because I can think of two recent cases where both scenarios happened. The first was Ahmaud Arbury. In that case the original video made it look like Arbury was the aggressor but then more information came out and it was clear that the people that shot him went way beyond self defense in trying to stop him and appeared to actually be racist.

In the George Floyd case the original video made it seem like the officers were actively killing a man for no reason. Then, months later after riots and chaos, the bodycam footage was released which showed that Floyd was out of control and fighting with the officers for half an hour and the cops were doing all that they could to keep him under control.

Without that context it's pretty impossible to determine if the case was justified or not. I'm leaning towards justification as it sure looked to me that Blake was reaching for something in his car. But I'm not jumping towards conclusions.

However, that certainly hasn't stopped anyone else. In response to the video the city of Kenosha got burned with a church getting damaged and a car lot being destroyed. And there were a few crazies trying to intimidate the swat team with rifles. All without knowing any details about the case.

To his eternal shame that included Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. I haven't been a fan of his since he got elected and I feel he botched his response to the Coronavirus crisis. But worst of all he immediately went on twitter and implied that the incident was racist in nature without any proof at all. I am glad that he is deploying the National Guard but he should have kept his mouth shut.

I do have to say that regardless of the outcome of the case I have to say that I am utterly shocked that Blake has survived to this point. The officer shot him at point blank range and wasn't able to kill him. He did get very good medical care but you would think the officer would have been able to hit something vital at that close of a range. On the other hand he was also fighting with the suspect at the same time and shooting one handed from the hip so perhaps it wasn't as easy as I suspect.

I live in Wisconsin and though I don't live anywhere near Kenosha I am worried that the unrest there might spread elsewhere. My area had some very minor disorder during the initial riots and I wouldn't be surprised if Antifa and Black Lives Matter cause some rioting up here as well. I'm sick and tired of having to worry about that and I sincerely hope that people will finally turn on these people. Even if the shooting does turn out to be unjustified, nothing can ever justify riots and arson.