There were no protests until the wrongful use of a gun against a black man. That is the direct responsibility of the police and Chief Miskinis has not addressed that police brutality yet.
By Dan Hinkel, John Keilman and Stacy St. Clair
Kyle Rittenhouse, (click here) who is charged with shooting and killing two men during this week’s violent demonstrations in Kenosha, will remain in Lake County for another month after a judge on Friday allowed a delay in the court process that could send him to Wisconsin to face the allegations.
Meanwhile, Kenosha police Chief Daniel Miskinis on Friday defended police after they allowed Rittenhouse, 17, of Antioch, to leave the scene of Tuesday’s deadly shooting in the protest-wracked city even though the teen was holding a rifle and had his hands up in what many interpret as a gesture of surrender.
In another development, an attorney for Jacob Blake (click here) told CNN that handcuffs restraining Blake, who is in a Wisconsin hospital, have been removed.
The shooting of Jacob Blake was blatantly wrong. That degree of dangerous police handling of an arrest is what upsets people. The people are right to be upset. The Chief of Police in Kenosha needs to address the loose handling of guns. Make no mistake, the uprising of the people was directly due to police brutality and the wrongful use of guns.
While the police are talking about police work and putting their own understanding "out there," that is as inappropriate as the repeated gunshots that have disabled Jacob Blake. The police officer was wrong and gratefully Blake is still alive. But, the Chief of Police has to address the blatant wrongful use of a gun against an unarmed black man and WHAT IS BEING DONE TO END THAT VIOLENCE AGAINST UNARMED BLACK MEN.
Blake, who is Black, was shot by Kenosha police on Sunday, and it was during protests over that shooting that Rittenhouse allegedly shot three people, two of them fatally. Police have been criticized for failing to apprehend Rittenhouse sooner.
“There were a lot of people in the area, a lot of people with weapons, and unfortunately, a lot of gunfire,” Miskinis (Chief of Police) said at a news conference Friday. “What the officers were ... driving into was a shots fired complaint, not a shooting, not a person down complaint. We have had many of those over the course of this unfortunate event.
“They’re responding to that, they see someone walking toward them with their hands up,” Miskinis said. “That, too, isn’t out of the ordinary given all the events going on. ... We have armed individuals out protesting, or counterprotesting, or simply walking around exercising their right, (who) will put their hands up. It might have been abnormal two weeks ago. It’s no longer abnormal. There’s nothing to suggest this individual was involved in criminal behavior.”
