By Connor Perrett, Insider
Police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin have become the latest example of questionable use of force following a video that shows an officer shooting 29-year-old Jacob Blake in the back seven times while his three children watched from inside the car.
The video, which was recorded Sunday, was not the first time the Kenosha police force was involved in a controversial shooting.
In 2004, an officer in Kenosha shot and killed a 21-year-old man at point-blank range in the head, killing him, while his mother and sister watched from their home, as NPR previously reported.
While officers were cleared of wrongdoing within 48 hours, the incident led to a state law requiring an independent investigation into incidents where a civilian dies while in police custody.
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Police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, made headlines Monday for a video that captured an officer shooting 29-year-old Jacob Blake, who is Black, seven times while he had his back turned to get into a car where his three children sat.
The shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin Sunday is the latest instance of questionable use of force by police to be caught on camera and comes nearly three months after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd was killed while being detained by officers in connection to a counterfeit $20 bill.
Blake had been walking away slowly from police officers and attempting to get in a car when he was shot from behind.
The shooting, which left Blake in a hospital’s intensive care unit, is not the first-time police officers in Kenosha, a town with a population of approximately 100,000, were publicly called out for excessive use of force. In 2004, an officer of the Kenosha Police Department shot and killed 21-year-old Michael Bell outside the home he shared with his mom and sister. According to an NPR report from 2014, a police officer had followed Bell to the house after he observed Bell’s driving.
Video recorded inside the officer’s vehicle showed Bell had exited his car before he was confronted by the officer, according to the report. Bell and the officer walked out of the frame, where police say Bell resisted arrest. During a struggle, a police officer shot Bell in the head, killing him as his mother and sister watched from the house, the report said.
In two days, an internal investigation conducted by the Kenosha Police Department cleared officers of wrongdoing
In less than 48 hours, an internal investigation conducted by the Kenosha Police Department had determined that the involved officers had been justified in killing Bell, NPR reported.
“The investigation showed that the actions of the officers were reasonable, appropriate and well within Kenosha Police Department policy, procedure, and training. I am fully confident that the officer’s actions complied with the Kenosha Police Department’s use of force guidelines,” former Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey told the outlet in 2014, using the same statement he used in 2010.
“I was just completely appalled,” Bell’s father, Michael Bell Sr., who has since advocated for police reform, told NPR in 2014. “So, to clear themselves in 48 hours, I was just completely flabbergasted.”
In addition to years long calls for a new official investigation into his son’s killing, Bell Sr. has advocated against police departments conducting their own investigations into officer-involved killings.
“Pro forma internal investigations that reach a predetermined ‘justified’ verdict seriously harm citizens and police,” he wrote in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post, titled, “A cop killed my son. We can’t let police investigate themselves.”
“They fuel animosity toward officers, most of whom are brave and honorable public servants,” he continued. “To improve cop-community relations, departments should bring in outside, impartial investigators to scrutinize shootings.”
The Wisconsin police department, now at the subject of nationwide scrutiny over the shooting of Blake, has long defended its officers in Bell’s killing, claiming that Bell caused his own death. His father in 2010, however, was awarded a $1.75 million settlement as part of a wrongful death lawsuit he filed against the city. He’s used that money to continue to advocate for reform and push for a further investigation into his son’s death, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal.
In 2014, as part of a Bell’s advocacy work, Wisconsin became the first state in the nation to pass a law requiring an outside organization to investigate deaths caused by police or while a person is in custody, according to NPR.
“I’m going to withhold my judgment until we see all the facts in this case but it looks pretty bad,” Bell told The New York Times on Monday about the officer’s shooting of Blake, though he noted portions of the viral video reminded him of some of the circumstances of his son’s death.
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