Kenosha County courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Nearly four years ago, Justin Blake joined a group of peaceful protesters outside the Kenosha County Public Safety Building after learning  that the Kenosha officer who shot and paralyzed Blake’s then-29-year-old nephew Jacob — triggering protests and riots in 2020 — was returning to work. At the April 25 2021 protest, Justin Blake was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting/obstructing an officer. A jury found Blake not guilty earlier this week. Now he is seeking justice for the “torture” he allegedly endured at the hands of sheriff’s deputies, as described in an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit. 

“Our big brother and our family were infuriated, and the community at large,” upon hearing that officer Rusten Shensky was back on duty, Blake told Wisconsin Examiner. It was a decision the Kenosha Police Department (KPD) made without informing the family or community, said Blake. “So in order to bring light to this, we elected to protest peacefully.” 

Protesters wanted to deliver a letter to local law enforcement leadership asking why Sheskey’s return to work hadn’t been publicized, and questioning why the officer hadn’t been reprimanded for breaking procedure when he shot Jacob Blake in August 2020. Sheskey was responding to a domestic dispute when he shot Blake seven times, as Blake walked away from him and attempted to leave in a vehicle. Blake’s family said he was unarmed, though police claim that a knife was found at the scene. After investigations by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Kenosha County district attorney declined to file charges against Sheskey. Then-KPD Chief Daniel Miskinis said Sheskey acted “within the law,” that his behavior fell within policy guidelines and that he would not face internal discipline. 

Court records show that a detective, sergeant and two sheriff’s deputies were called to testify about Justin Blake’s involvement in the April 2021 protest. Two of those Kenosha County sheriff’s personnel, Detective Allison George and Deputy Kyle Bissonnette, contributed narratives to the civil complaint filed against Blake for disorderly conduct in the Kenosha County Circuit Court. The complaint  states that some participants in the protest, which it describes as peaceful, began obstructing access to the Public Safety Building to citizens attempting to report routine crimes or other complaints with the sheriff’s office, so that members of the public needed to be directed to alternative entrances by staff. 

Blake and two other protesters were arrested during the protest. During the trial, attorney Kimberly Motley — representing Blake — successfully argued that aspects of the narrative deputies put in the civil complaint against her client did not match video and witness testimony. 

According to a federal civil rights complaint filed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin court, Blake was placed in an “emergency restraint chair” after refusing to speak with deputies while he was in custody. The complaint alleges that some of the sheriff’s deputies knew who both Blake and his nephew were. At least eight sheriff’s deputies and one health care worker allegedly wrestled Blake into the chair, where his  arms, legs and chest were tightly strapped for nearly seven hours. 

“We should not have been detained, arrested. We had broken no laws, we were peacefully protesting,”  Blake said. “We utilized the Constitution. We have the right not to talk, not to communicate.”

“This is why it’s so important that this case get more publicity,” Blake told Wisconsin Examiner. “Because they’re challenging people to say that you can’t even protest, not even peacefully. And that’s in the Constitution. So it’s imperative that people stand up and fight.” Blake’s father marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he said, in Selma, Washington, and in Chicago, where Blake is from. “We come from fighters, and by no means are we going to allow them to charge us with any kind of charge and not fight it.” 

Blake feels that he and his family attracted the ire of law enforcement because they refuse to be silent. Over dozens of protests, rallies and marches, and hours spent contacting local elected officials, and building alliances with community activists, Blake said the attitude of law enforcement became clear. “They despised us,” said Blake, “and they wanted to put us in our place. And we believe that’s what this was about.” The Kenosha County Sheriff has yet to respond to a request for comment for this story at the time of publication. 

Blake told Wisconsin Examiner that his family’s activism will continue, since few changes have been made in the Kenosha area since the unrest of 2020 and, he said, the underlying problems that triggered the protests in the first place have not been addressed.