KENOSHA, Wis. – Jacob Blake, the man shot in the back by a police officer in Kenosha, is no longer shackled to his hospital bed.
Friday morning, Blake’s father told CNN during an interview that his son remained shackled to his bed, even though he is currently paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the officer-involved shooting on Sunday.
In the interview, Jacob Blake, Sr. said it "bothered" him that his son remained shackled in "cold steel" despite his condition.
"He can't get up. He can't get up if he wanted to," Blake Sr. said. "So, that's a little overkill to have him shackled to the bed. That makes no sense to me."
Blake’s attorney, Patrick Cafferty, confirmed to WTMJ that the handcuffs confining the 29-year-old to his bed were removed around noon Friday and the officers that were posted in his hospital room have left.
A spokesman for the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office explained to CNN on Friday that Blake was handcuffed to the bed because he had felony warrants for his arrest from crimes he allegedly committed prior to the shooting.
Cafferty says the warrant has since been vacated, but domestic violence charges from July are still pending.
The attorney also says a district attorney helped in the process of getting the cuffs removed and that $500 cash bond was posted in relation to the July charges.
Blake has been hospitalized since Sunday afternoon when he was shot in the back at least seven times as Kenosha police officers attempted to take him into custody. The officer who fired his weapon, Rusten Sheskey, has been placed on administrative leave.
While police have not announced formal charges against Blake or said why they attempted to arrest him, they've claimed that officers had been called to his girlfriend's house because he wasn't "supposed to be there." Police have also said that Blake admitted he was in possession of a knife, which was later found in his car.
Throughout the country, it's standard procedure for police to shackle a suspect to a hospital bed if that person is under arrest.
Blake's father also told CNN that his son was "hallucinating" when he went to visit.
"He grabbed my hand and began to weep and he told me that he was hallucinating. And then he said, 'I love you, dad. Daddy, I love you.,'" Blake said. "His next question was, 'Why'd they shoot me so many times?' I said, 'Baby, they weren't supposed to shoot you at all.'"
He also told CNN that he spoke to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, earlier this week. He said he has not heard from the White House or President Donald Trump.
Wisconsin's Department of Criminal Investigations is leading the inquiry into Blake's arrest and the police shooting that left him paralyzed.
