Good Morning America interviewed Jacob Blake, for his first television interview since he was shot by police while resisting arrest, but omitted some key details.
Good Morning America (GMA) on ABC, interviewed Jacob Blake Thursday morning, and highlighted that it was his first television interview since he was shot by police while resisting arrest. Blake was partially paralyzed after one of the bullets hit his spine.
Last week it was announced that charges will not be pursued against the officer who shot him or against Blake himself.
There were some glaring omissions during the interview, that attempted to create a different narrative of what actually happened, as well as some statements by Blake that don’t fit the facts from authorities or from the video itself.
Blake had a previous history of violence, having been arrested in 2010 for attempting to resist arrest and escape from police. At that time Blake was also waving a knife at police officers as they tried to arrest him.
NEW CONTEXT: In 2010, Jacob Blake pulled a knife on police officers and slashed at them. He also provoked officers to shoot him while swirling his blade around. pic.twitter.com/7DY1kLXnRV
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray)
The arresting officer of the 2020 incident knew Blake had a felony warrant for his arrest for sexual assault before he arrived at the scene. GMA did not mention that once officers encounter someone with a warrant they are required to arrest them.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JcrjwP1GevI?feature=oembed
Blake did admit that he resisted arrest, but then claimed he was putting his kids into the car to get them away from a neighborhood fight.
In the interview it is noted that police were originally called because the car did not belong to Blake. It was a rental belonging to the mother of his kids Laquisha Booker who had asked for the keys back and Blake refused to return them, and that she was worried his was going to crash her car as he had done before, which is why she called 911.
New Footage shows Jacob Blake Brawling with Police#JacobBlake #BLM pic.twitter.com/Z4GxQrmfwo
— KJ (@polettiquesin)
After the shooting, Blake told investigators that he didn’t know why officers were trying to arrest him and that he didn’t know he had a felony warrant out for his arrest.
Investigators found a text message on his phone in which Blake mentioned having a warrant for his arrest. Additionally, Blake only had one warrant, so there was no confusion about the possibility of referring to another one. Investigators even looked at Blake’s internet search history and found that he had looked up information on his warrant on a police website. Blake had previously lied to investigators about searching for the info on his warrant.
Yet, Blake claimed in the interview, "I hadn’t done anything so I didn’t feel like they were there for me."
Blake, was forbidden from going to the home of his alleged victim from the May 3rd alleged assault and the police were originally dispatched following the 911 call for the stolen car. The caller said Blake was there and he "wasn’t supposed to be there," so Blake likely already knew that he had violated a court order.
According to the complaint of the May sexual assault, which was obtained by The New York Post Post, Blake was accused of breaking into the home of a woman he knew and sexually assaulting her.
According to The Post, the victim of the May alleged assault, who is only identified by her initials in the paperwork, told police she was asleep in bed with one of her children when Blake came into the room around 6 a.m. and allegedly said, "I want my sh-t," the record states. She told cops Blake then used his finger to sexually assault her, sniffed it and said, "Smells like you’ve been with other men," the criminal complaint alleged.
The alleged victim said Blake "penetrating her digitally caused her pain and humiliation and was done without her consent" and she was "very humiliated and upset by the sexual assault," the record stated.
According to The Post, she told police she "was upset but collected herself" and then allegedly ran out the front door after Blake, the complaint says. She then realized her car was missing, checked her purse and saw the keys were missing and "immediately called 911," the complaint alleged.
The alleged victim told cops she has known him for eight years and claims that he physically assaults her "around twice a year when he drinks heavily."
Blake claimed during the interview that, he didn’t know who, grabbed his arm when police were trying to arrest him, implying that he didn’t realize it was the police until they threw him up against the car.
"They didn’t say why they were there?" Strahan asked. Blake said no. "Did they tell you that they had a warrant for your arrest?" Strahan asked. Again, Blake said no.
According to the officers, they did not grab Blake from behind. Officers claimed he turned and looked directly at them after putting a child in the car and the officers told him he had a warrant before they tried to arrest him.
Officers claimed they fired because Blake was reaching for a knife. Blake admitted to investigators that he was reaching for a knife. Yet, several outlets including the Washington Post, PBS and CNN that Blake was unarmed last week, long after this information was known.
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Kenosha District Attorney Michael Gravely said during a press conference "It is absolutely incontrovertible that Jacob Blake was armed with a knife during this encounter."
While resisting arrest multiple times, Jacob Blake WAS armed with a knife and in the process of kidnapping and stealing a car. pic.twitter.com/qOMnjSv5nx
— Mythinformed MKE (@MythinformedMKE)
However, during the GMA interview Blake admits he had a knife which he claims dropped to the ground during the struggle. He says he reached down and grabbed it before walking away.
Blake admitted, "I shouldn’t have picked it up. I wasn’t thinking clearly."
At this point there is a splice edit and the interviewer Michael Strahan interjects to help explain Blake’s alleged intentions by saying, "You were thinking once you get the knife into the car you were going to just say…"
Blake cut Strahan off to say, "Throw myself to the ground and put my arms behind my back."
Blake had just been in a fight with police while resisting arrest, tased three times, was walking away with a knife in his hand and was trying to get into a vehicle. It is unlikely he was about to surrender while reaching for a knife in the car. The video even shows the officers shouting "Drop the knife!"
Strahan asks, through a narration, "Why didn’t he (Blake) just stop and do what the police are asking him to do?"
Blake responded, "I couldn’t hear that. All I heard was screaming, screaming. My ears was ringing so it was all muffled."
Strahan responded "If the police were fighting me, if they were tasing me I would stop walking away from them and they would have my attention."
Blake replied, "I mean I had not left or tried to run at that point" even though in the video he is clearly walking away with a knife in hand and seems to be headed for the car. Blake could have surrendered, before the fight, during the fight and after the fight and instead it appeared as if he was choosing to leave with a weapon.
Strahan announced the the full interview will be released Thursday night.