Two of the three officers involved in the Jacob Blake shooting have returned to full duty.
The announcement came from a Kenosha Police Department news release.
KENOSHA POLICE UNION PROVIDES ACCOUNT OF JACOB BLAKE SHOOTING
Officers Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek resumed work on January 20 after they were put on administrative leave on August 23, 2020, the release said.
According to the news release, “Officers Arenas and Meronek were not charged with a crime and after review by the Kenosha County District Attorney and an independent investigator, former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, the actions taken by the officers were reasonable and justified.”
Rusten Sheskey is the officer who shot Blake. He remains on administrative leave pending the findings of a Kenosha Police use of deadly force review board.
KENOSHA DISTRICT ATTORNEY DEBUNKS FALSE MEDIA CLAIMS
On January 5, 2021, Kenosha District Attorney Michael Gravely cleared the officers in the shooting while discussing the false claims from the media that Blake was unarmed.
In a news conference, Gravely said it is “very important, Jacob Blake, while actively resisting, arms himself with a knife,” Gravely said. “I continue to hear, I think I heard it at the rally last night, the vigil, where someone again said he was unarmed. It is absolutely incontrovertible that Jacob Blake was armed with a knife during this encounter. Incontrovertible. Most incontrovertible, because Jacob Blake in all of the times he spoke to DCI, admits he possessed a knife.”
Sheskey told investigators that he used deadly force during the chaotic encounter because he was afraid Blake, while attempting to flee the scene, was trying to kidnap a child in the back seat of the vehicle.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice had said Blake had a knife in his possession and the weapon was found on the floorboard of his vehicle. Blake himself told authorities he possessed a knife, Graveley said.
