Jacob Blake, the Black man shot by the police in front of his children in Kenosha, Wis., said he should not have grabbed his pocketknife during the August incident, but that he was ready to surrender.
Blake, who was shot seven times in the back, told ABC News in an interview aired Thursday that he scooped the knife after it fell out of his pocket.
“I shouldn’t have picked it up, only considering what was going on,” Blake, 29, said. “At that time I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
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He said he did not think he would get shot, because he was walking away from the cops. But Officer Rusten Sheskey grabbed Blake as he opened the door to his vehicle — which carried his children — and fired seven bullets into his back.
The caught-on-video shooting galvanized large, violent protests in the summer. Blake was partially paralyzed.
Sheskey, who said that he worried Blake would stab him, was not charged in the shooting.
Blake said he delivered a message to his children moments after he was shot: “Daddy loves you no matter what.
Source: Jacob Blake says he regrets scooping knife before cop shot him
