I gotta say: when the Jacob Blake story broke, I did not believe there might be a possible circumstance where a person being shot in the back seven times would be justified. After a full recounting of the facts in the case, it seems Blake worked really hard at it. 1/
By his own admission, he was armed with a knife. He struggled with a police officer while holding that same knife, and refused orders to drop the knife even while being held at gunpoint. 2/
But it doesn't even stop there. Police were summoned into contact with Blake by an ex who had an order of protection against him due to a sexual assault and had reported to police that he was back (obviously in violation of that order) and had stolen her rental car & keys. 3/
So at the time he was shot, after multiple attempts to get him to drop the knife, he was moving toward a car that had small children inside (who were, as far as the police officer knew, not his) with a knife in his hand. 4/
The recitation of facts, now that we know them all, reads like a list of things you would do if you literally wanted cops to shoot you. I don't really know what else to say at this point. And I say this with someone with a lengthy track record of questioning use of force by cops
Jacob Blake is lucky to be alive today. He should not be held up as someone on whom police used excessive force. Fin.
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