Jacob Blake's Father Said He Talked with Biden and Harris but Hasn't Heard from President Trump

A police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake on Sunday  

Jacob Blake Sr. Photo: KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty

Jacob Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., told CNN that he has spoken with former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, about the shooting of his son but has yet to hear from President Donald Trump.

A white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Blake, who is Black, multiple times in the back on Sunday after officers had responded to what they said was a domestic disturbance.

A conclusive account of what transpired has not been released, though a short video circulated widely showing Blake being shot after opening the driver's-side door of a vehicle while the officer grabbed his shirt from behind and then fired. Another brief clip showed him on the ground struggling with officers before the shooting.

Blake's family said Tuesday that he has been paralyzed from the waist down. An attorney for the family said Blake's three sons — none older than 8 — were in the vehicle when he was shot, according to CNN.

The altercation has fueled protests in Kenosha and elsewhere in the country, including by athletes, following earlier demonstrations after the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.

Blake Sr. told CNN on Friday that speaking with Biden and Harris, who are running on the Democrat ticket opposing Trump in the Nov. 3 election, was like "speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters."

From left: former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris. Andrew Harnik/AP/Shutterstock; Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Walt Disney Television/Getty

"They were so comforting that you almost forgot how the situation was really playing out," he said on CNN's New Day.

"Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family, that he identifies with what I'm going through. I didn't have to keep telling him. He knew. It felt like he knew," Blake Sr. added. "It felt like they knew what was going on. And they didn't act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us. And the tears that came from [Jacob Blake's] mother in this talk with the Bidens, that was important."

As for whether Trump had reached out to the family, Blake Sr. said, "That's a negative."

In a video shared on Twitter Wednesday, Biden discussed the conversation he had with Blake’s family earlier that day.

"What I saw on that video makes me sick. Once again, a Black man, Jacob Blake, has been shot by the police in broad daylight with the whole world watching," the presidential hopeful said. "Now 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. It's horrible what they saw, watching their father get shot," Biden continued. "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?"

Biden also denounced the violence and destruction that has occurred in Kenosha since Blake's death.

Speaking Wednesday, Harris addressed Blake's shooting, saying it "represents the two systems of justice in America,"

"We need to fight again for that ideal that says all people are supposed to be treated equally," she said, "which is still not happening."