Gaige Grosskreutz sues Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting him

Gaige Grosskreutz, the man injured by Kyle Rittenhouse after he was shot during the Kenosha riots of 2020, has field a lawsuit against Rittenhouse and local police and officials.

According to Fox News, Grosskreutz is seeking economic losses, "damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims," and punitive damages.

"Astonishingly, the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, their supervising officials and police officers, and law enforcement officers from surrounding communities did not treat Defendant Rittenhouse or any of the other armed individuals patrolling the streets as a threat to the safety of themselves or the citizens they were sworn to protect," the lawsuit, filed on February 14, states.

"Instead, the law enforcement Defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit,'" said the lawsuit, filed by Ascend Counsel attorneys Kimberley Motley of Motley Legal Services and E. Milo Schwab.

Rittenhouse told Fox News that he was ready to "prove my innocence again," though that action would come with a high price tag, adding that the lawsuit came as "a little bit of a shock."

"I guess it came as a shock to why he's filing a lawsuit because he admitted that he pointed a gun in my face and that he chased me down," Rittenhouse added.

The lawsuit also lists as defendants "the city of Kenosha, Kenosha County, five other neighboring counties, police officers, former Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and former Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis," according to Fox News.

During the 2021 trial of Rittenhouse, who was charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide for the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and the shooting of Grosskreutz which resulted in an injury, Grosskreutz testified that he pointed a firearm at Rittenhouse before the then-17-year-old shot him in the arm.

The riots, which sparked on August 23, 2020, came in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake and followed close on the heels of the protests and riots that popped up across the country following the death of George Floyd in May of that year.

Rittenhouse said that he went to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle to protect businesses from damage and the shootings were in self defense, while Grosskreutz joined the protest.

Grosskreutz said during the trial that he had his hands raised as he approached Rittenhouse, and didn’t attempt to shoot when he raised his gun.

"That’s not the kind of person that I am. That’s not why I was out there," he said when asked why he didn’t shoot Rittenhouse first. "It’s not who I am. And definitely not somebody I would want to become."

The lawsuit from Grosskreutz argues that he "approached with his hands in the air to try to ease the situation and stop the killing."

"Defendant Rittenhouse instead shot Mr. Grosskreutz in the bicep, leaving a gaping wound. Thankfully, Mr. Grosskreutz did not die that day," the lawsuit says.

"But he must live with the physical and emotional wounds inflicted by Defendant Rittenhouse and the Defendants who deputized and enabled him. The conduct of the Defendants in this case directly caused Gaige Grosskreutz’s injury." 

On November 19, 2021, after four days of deliberations, a jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued that Rittenhouse had his life threatened by Rosenbaum, was beaten with a skateboard by Huber, and was finally threatened with a handgun by Gaige Grosskreutz, and that Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.

The lawsuit was filed two weeks after a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of Huber could proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers, and officials, according to the Associated Press.