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Joe Biden says he has spoken with Jacob Blake's family amid Kenosha protests

26 August 2020
Dan Ackermann

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said Wednesday he has spoken with the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot at least seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The big picture: Protests have erupted across the country as Blake remains in the hospital paralyzed from the waist down. Two people were shot and killed during clashes in Kenosha overnight, resulting in the arrest of a 17-year old male. President Trump said Wednesday that Gov. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) will allow "federal assistance" to help quell the violence.

What he's saying: "You know, I spoke to Jacob's mom and dad, sister and other members of the family just a little bit earlier, and I told them justice must and will be done. You know our hearts are with his family, especially his children," Biden said in a video posted to Twitter.

  • "Put yourself in the shoes of every Black father and Black mother in this country and ask, is this what we want America to be? Is this the country we should be? "
  • "But burning down communities is not protest, it's needless violence — violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That's wrong."
  • "In the midst of this pain, the wisest words that I've heard spoken so far have come from Julia Jackson, Jacob's mother. She looked at the damage done in her community and she said this, "This doesn't reflect my son, or my family."

The state of play: The Blake family's attorney Ben Crump told a news briefing on Wednesday that it's "going to take a miracle" for him to walk ever again, and that Blake was "struggling to sustain his life."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.