The prosecutor Michael Graveley, during his press conference, this Tuesday in Kenosha (Wisconsin) .SCOTT OLSON / AFP
The policeman who shot Jacob Blake in the back, a young African-American who was left paraplegic and whose case sparked racial protests in the United States, will not be charged with any charges, the Kenosha (Wisconsin) district attorney's office reported Tuesday.
The police officer who shot Blake, Rusten Sheskey, will therefore go free.
The city attorney, Michael Graveley, explained at a press conference that his decision not to press charges is based on a lack of evidence.
“It is a legal and professional matter.
If you don't believe you can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, you have an ethical obligation not to press charges, ”Graveley said.
Blake, 29, was shot when he opened the door of a vehicle in which his three minor children were, in a scene that was captured by the cameras of the mobile phones of witnesses.
The event sparked, last August, a wave of protests against police brutality with the black community, and two days later a white teenager, Kyle Rittenhouse, killed two protesters in that same city amid the chaos unleashed.
Both the president, Republican Donald Trump, and the then Democratic candidate and now president-elect, Joe Biden, made stops during last year's election campaign in Kenosha to discuss what happened, amid the outrage generated by several similar acts in the that white police officers were implicated in other US cities.