Jacob Blake's neighbor, Raysean White who recorded the Kenosha, Wisconsin officer-involved shooting of Jacob Blake, says he can’t sleep and is traumatized after witnessing the incident.
White told CNN he and his neighbor, Blake, never really spoke, but he always saw the victim’s kids playing outside since he moved to the neighborhood in February.
On Sunday (August 23), White saw Blake and his kids again when he recorded the Black father being shot multiple times by police while his three kids were in the car watching.
"It's disturbing to actually look out the window where I live and see this man get shot by the police seven times," White told CNN during an interview on Monday (August 24). "It's highly disturbing to me, but I'm pretty sure Jacob's kids were more traumatized than anybody during the whole situation."
The disturbing video has received millions of views on social media and has prompted protests in Kenosha, located between Chicago and Milwaukee.
According to the Kenosha Police Department, officers were called to a domestic incident around 5:11 pm.
The witness said he saw Blake get out of his truck, approach his son and told him to get in. Blake then walked into the apartment building behind a woman who was outside.
When Blake returned back to his trUck, White said that’s when things escalated and police began to wrestle with Blake.
"One of them had him in a headlock and was punching him in his ribs, the other had him in a headlock on the other side of him and was pulling his arm," White stated.
"After they punched him in his rib, the female officer tased him and Jacob kind of leaned on the car and they proceeded to wrestle him toward the back of the car, and he went to the other side of the car. When they were on the other side of the car on the ground, I had to pick up my camera and start recording."
The viral video shows a Black man walking around the front of a gray SUV with two officers a couple of steps behind him, one with his weapon trained on the man's back. As Blake gets into the driver's side door of his car, the nearest officer grabs the tail of his shirt and seven shots are heard.
The man getting in the car appears to go limp and a car horn steadily goes off. A woman nearby is also seen jumping up and down in anger.
"The officer that shot him, he got on his knees," White recalled. "He was trying to help him. He put his blue gloves on. Backup came. The other officers tried to help him."
According to Blake’s family attorney, Ben Crump, Blake is in stable condition in an intensive care unit.
The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation will lead the shooting investigation, according to authorities. District Attorney Michael D. Graveley’s office will determine whether the involved officers will be charged.
Graveley said his office’s responsibility is to make two determinations:
"One, did any officer, in this case, commit any crimes? And two, are there any crimes we believe were committed that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt? If those two things are concluded as a 'yes,' then criminal charges would be brought at the end of that process," says the District Attorney.
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