WASHINGTON: U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Monday privately met with the family of Jacob Blake, the African American father who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, midwestern state Wisconsin, last month.
Benjamin Crump, an attorney representing the Blake family, said in a statement that the senator spoke with the family in Milwaukee during her first appearance in the key swing state about how they’re handling the trauma of the shooting and the Democrats’ legislation efforts focusing on police practices and law enforcement accountability.
Harris, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, spoke with Blake by phone during the meeting, a Biden campaign official said.
“Every 24 hours there’s pain … It hurts to breathe. It hurts to sleep. It hurts to move from side to side. It hurts to eat,” Blake, the 29-year-old father of three, spoke from his hospital bed in a video posted to Twitter by his attorney on Saturday.
“We do have two systems of justice” for black and white Americans, Harris said.
The Blake family is launching a civil suit against the Kenosha Police Department over the Aug. 23 shooting, which has sparked week-long violent protests in Kenosha and some other cities. The police officer who shot Blake is on administrative leave pending an investigation.–Agencies
