Only hours after the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha police, the media narrative had already solidified. In spite of the fact that all we had to go on, at that point, was a short video of police shooting a man while he leaned inside his car, the media had rendered its verdict: Jacob Blake was an “unarmed” victim gunned down by police after he stopped to innocently “break up a fight” between two other people.
Was he in fact unarmed? Was he breaking up a fight? Why was he reaching into his car? What exactly happened between Blake and the police before the shooting? And why were police there in the first place? These were open questions, and three of them remain open. But according to Wisconsin media outlet Madison365, which obtained audio from the police scanner on the night of the shooting, at least one key point in the initial narrative may be more complicated than originally reported.
The audio indicates that someone had called 911 to report that Blake was at her home, was not supposed to be there, and had taken her keys and wouldn’t give them back. Police responding to the scene were informed that Blake had an open warrant for his arrest. It had been previously (rather quietly) reported that Blake was wanted for sexual assault, trespassing, and domestic abuse…
Continue Reading