this is "nightline." >> tonight, jacob blake in his own words. >> i didn't want to be the next george floyd. i didn't want to die. >> shot seven times by police, now speaking out for thee i res on. >> the ongoing debate over equality in this country. >> black lives matter! >> if you're a black person in america and you're not perfect, then they decide, oh, it was justified. plus shots fired. two cases and two different outcomes. what justice looks like in a divided america. feeling sluggish or weighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at its best. taking metamucil everyday can help.

metamucil psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slow sugar absorption tg lels so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil. support your daily digestive health. take the metamucil two week challenge and feel lighter and more energetic. sign up today at metamucil.com.

♪ ♪ ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight jacob blake is ready to talk. almost five months after being shot and left partially paralyzed by the police in kenosha, wisconsin. here's "gma" coanchor michael strahan with blake's take on what happened that day. >> because i felt like i was dying. i was counting down the breaths.

i was awake the whole time. >> reporter: it was the moment jacob blake thought he was about to die. [ gunshots ] >> i was counting down my breath and blinks because i was staring at the sky, watching the clouds. i was like, god, i'm coming, i guess this is it for me. but it wasn't. >> reporter: the 29-year-old speaking out for the first time almost five months after being shot seven times by police. >> you didn't resist? >> i resisted to getting beat on. what i mean by that is not falling, not letting them put their hand on my neck, that's all i was thinking, honestly. >> reporter: blake is now partially paralyzed from the waist down. a moment captured bystanders, eventually going viral. [ gunshots ] the encounter marking the climax of a summer rocked by reckoning.

>> say her name! >> breonna taylor! with calls echoing a across america, from celebrities to athletes. >> we are scared, as black people. >> reporter: activists demanding justice for the ever-growing list of black victims shot by police. >> i didn't want to be the next george floyd. i didn't want to die. >> reporter: in the moments before, on a hot summer day in kenosha, wisconsin, blake had been celebrating his son israel's birthday at the home of his son's mother, booker. >> cooking, chilling, neighbors out. ended up being an argument between my woman and the neighbor. i wanted to leave. >> reporter: booker didn't want him to leave with a rental car and called the police. >> today is our son's birthday so i allowed him to spend a

couple of hours with him, but he's not giving me the keys to this rental and that's all i'm asking d wt they thought was "family trouble," among them seven-year veteran officer russ stop sheskey. >> complaint says blake isn't supposed to be there, he took the complainant's keys and is refusing to give them back. >> she decided she didn't want me to take the rental car. i explained, my truck is in the shop. so i decided not to give her the keys. it was in her name. >> reporter: on the way to the scene, officers are told there's a warrant for blake on domestic violence offenses and sexual assault. >> we have an alert at this address for a 99 for that subject. >> what are you doing when they show up? >> at that time walking out. i hadn't done anything, so i didn't feel like they were here for me. >> reporter: records show officer sheskey recalls telling blake "let's talk about this." as blake places one of the kids in the car, he then tells blake he has a warrant and tries to arrest him. >> they didn't say why they were

there? >> uh-uh, they didn't say anything. >> did they tell you they had a warrant for your arrest? >> no. i thought that it had been over with. >> reporter: police deploy a stun gun multiple times. blake pulled the prongs out of his skin. officer sheskey and blake end up in a physical altercation on the ground. >> we see you when you walk away from the officers. after they try to grab you. >> at that point, i'm rattled. you know, i realize i had dropped my knife. had a little pocketknife. so i picked it up after i got off of him. because they tased me. and i fell on top of him. probably face on the window. i'm about to get a handshake on my case. in the video you hear them saying "drop the knife." i think a couple of people were saying that, but i didn't hear none of that. >> reporter: blake turns away from the officers and walks around the front of the vehicle towards the driver's side door.

>> what are you thinking at that point? >> i had picked my knife up, i'm not really worried, i'm walking away from them, so it's not like they're going to shoot me. i shouldn't have picked it up. at that time i wasn't thinking clearly. >> you said that we can just look at the video, the video tells everything. but there's going to be a lot of people who look at the video and say, in the video you're walking away from the police, so why didn't he just stop and do what the police are asking him to do? >> i couldn't hear that. all i heard was screaming, screaming. my ears was ringing. it was all muffled. >> if the police were fighting me, if they were tasing me, i would stop walking away from them, and they would have my attention. >> when they tased me, i had my hands up. >> reporter: officer sheskey's attorney insists "the officers were compelled to use force once blake began actively resisting their verbal commands," adding the claim the officer didn't say

anything to him during the altercation is, quote, preposterous. as blake opens the door of the car, officer sheskey claims blake drove the knife toward his body. blake denies this. officer sheskey grabs blake by the back of his shirt and shoots him seven times. >> put my hands up because i didn't want him shooting me in my face or head or nothing. at that time i put my arms up. he kept shooting, kept shooting. >> what's going through your mind? >> my babies are right here. my babies. after he stopped shooting me, i said, "daddy loves you, no matter what." that was the last thing i said to them at that point. i thought gas going to be the last -- to be the last thing i say to them. thank god it wasn't. >> reporter: according to records released by the

wisconsin department of criminal investigation in the past brake was arrested for attempting to flee police and resisting arrest. these charges were dropped. >> there are critics who are going to say, he's had run-ins with the law in the past, he doesn't deserve any sympathy. >> if you're a black person in america and you're not perfect, then they say, oh, it was justified. it's like our children have to be angels. >> reporter: days after the video was posted, voices calling for justice grew louder. the city of kenosha enraged. by day, peaceful demonstrations calling for the accountable. >> this country is kind of like a box of matches right now. we're the match that got lit. >> reporter: by night, parts of the city brought down in flames. the riots turning deadly when armed vigilantes clashed with protesters. >> we're protecting from the citizens and i got pepper sprayed by a person in the crowd. >> reporter: during the unrest,

cal rittenhouse, 17 at the time, shot three people, two of which later died. he was arrested the next day and charged with multiple counts of homicide. he has pled not guilty to all the charges, claiming he acted in self-defense. but now rittenhouse, whose currently free on a $2 million bond, is making headlines yet again. prosecutors are seeking to amend the conditions of his bond after images in the video surfaced last week. the photo showed the 18-year-old flashing signs associated with white sprupremacists and being serenaded with a song allegedly associated with the far-right group the proud boys. his attorney denies any association with these groups. many are comparing the treatment of rittenhouse's arrest with blake's. >> 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse, accused of killing two people at a protest over your case. and he walks past cops, he has an assault rifle. have you seen that video?

>> uh-huh, yes. >> when you see that, what is your thoughts when you see something like that happen? >> again, it wasn't a surprise to me. it was devastating. i mean -- >> say it. >> he's white. that's the difference. >> there are two justice systems that govern america. one for black america, and one for white america. which says, where black people, shoot first, ask questions later. >> reporter: last week the prosecutor declined to press charges. >> no kenosha law enforcement officer in this case will be charged with any criminal offense. >> reporter: he said officer sheskey was justified in his use of force because blake was armed with a knife, refused orders to drop it, officer sheskey's attorney in a statement insists that, quote, race had absolutely nothing to do with the officer's actions. blake was given every opportunity to comply with the

officers, and he repeatedly chose not to. sheskey and the two other officers involved in the shooting remain on paid administrative leave. what did you expect when you knew that the decision was coming up? on if they were going to file charges or not? >> i knew they were gaining in the intellectual justification of discrimination. as martin luther king said in the letter from birmingham jail, just because you say it's legal, that don't make it right. i mean, black lives matter, america, and we keep giving you exhibit after exhibit after exhibit. yet you continue to tell us that we're not worthy of equal justice. >> reporter: blake and his attorney said they play to file a civil suit against the kenosha police department. almost five months after the incident, blake says he is now focusing on healing. >> unfortunately, i need help all day. my mom, she's helping me get in

and out of the bed. she helps me do a lot of stuff. it's changed 100%. >> we know your kids who were in the car, have you had any conversations with them about this since it all happened? >> when they seen me, they couldn't believe i was alive. my 8-year-old just staring at me, you know. i've explained to them, broke it down to them, like daddy can die, but for some reason, i didn't that day. >> our thanks to michael. up next, the two investigations. how race, policing, and justice collided in one city. ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme.

the lincoln family of luxury suvs. here's another cleaning tip from mr. clean. cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum... and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops... in microwaves... and all over the house. for an amazing clean, try mr. clean magic eraser, and mr. clean magic eraser sheets. ♪ ♪ be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. the majority of people on humira

saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. and many achieved remission that can last. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, one iections,rtain fungal infections are common or have flu-like symptoms or sores . don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

ask your gastroenterologist about humira. ♪ ♪ ♪ digital transformation has failed to take off. because it hasn't removed the endless mundane work we all hate. ♪ ♪ ♪ automation can solve that by taking on repetitive tasks for us. unleash your potential. uipath. reboot work. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (beeping sound) ♪ ♪ ♪

♪

for more on the shooting, arrest, and unrest that shook kenosha, wisconsin, earlier i spoke with abc news contributor elsie granderson, abc news contributor and attorney brian buckmire, and the president of officers for justice, captain yolanda williams. captain, i'll start with you. as police departments across the country look to change their practices, how could de-escalation have changed the outcome of this situation? >> well, i think de-escalation could have come into play because we could have had a utilization of perhaps some of the community members or neighbors that may have been in the area. we could have also considered contacting some mental health professionals to back up these officers. or some other officers that may have been trained in crisis intervention or mental health

training and development. so these are some of the things that we are now employing at sfpd, and we're finding these resources have been extremely helpful to us in quelling down situations that could escalate and spin out of control. >> the kenosha county district attorney has declined to press charges against the officer that shot jacob blake, saying the officer followed his training. why is it so rare for officers to be charged in these incidents? >> it's rare because the law supports officers, for the most part, when it comes to situations like this. an officer following his training, that makes sense from a civil standpoint. but the question here is whether or not use of force was appropriate or self-defense is appropriate. i don't see that applying, i think the district attorney got it wrong. >> kyle rittenhouse killed two, wounded another in a protest following blake's shooting. how common is it for someone to be charged with a double murder

to be out free on bond? >> being charged with a double murder is very rare. if you want to look at the ahmaud arbery case where remand was imposed, meaning they couldn't pay any amount of bail, that's typically more common of what we see of homicide cases, especially double homicide. the fact that he got bond i think is pretty peculiar. >> elsie, a study in contrasts. when police officers respond to the incident involving jacob blake, he was shot seven times. yet when kyle rittenhouse was walking around the protest killing people, he was able to walk away from the crime scene, pass police officers, and drive home before he was detained. how does this illustrate, in your mind, the different ways black and white people are viewed by law enforcement? >> i think you eloquently laid out the differences right there. the officers in kenosha were in a hostile situation, and there's literally someone walking by them with a gun, and they didn't respond to him the way they would have if that person was african-american. >> lz, jacob blake is not like

the george floyd case. this is a case with lots of gray. how much of this do you think is training or race or a combination thereof? >> i think it is a combination. i've been on the police beat for newspapers around this country, i've gone on ride-alongs, i'm friends with police officers. i know it's a dangerous job, we all do. but that doesn't mean you get to be judge and jury even if you feel you are being threatened. you still need to follow the law, because that's a human life that you may be taking. >> lz, a final question to you. you and i have talked about this over the years off camera, two men of color who raised, our parents gave us the talk. i know you have a son. what does the talk look like for you in light of the jacob blake case and all the other cases? >> because of the pandemic, my 24-year-old son has been with me much of the past 10 months. every single time there is a video that comes out, we have the talk. he respects, he listens, because it's always good to be reminded. which is unfortunate commentary,

because we're talking generation after generation, which means the issue has been following us generation after generation. >> and captain, brian, final thoughts about this notion. you all, this is your business, but personally how do you engage family and friends about these issues? first you, captain. >> personally, i have several grandsons. and i speak to them on a daily basis about how to have an encounter with law enforcement and walk away successfully. and also to my fellow officers. i speak with them about the need for us to have conversations surrounding uniformity in our training and the way we police, in such a manner that everyone walks away safely. >> brian, we'll give you the last word. >> yeah, so i have a younger brother who's 20 years old. i'm literally his legal guardian. on my wrist i have tattooed "i am my brother's keeper."

after george floyd he called me crying, asking, how do i not be a hashtag? i taught my brother how to shave, i literally potty trained my brotototr, and it's heartbreaking that i don't have this answer, as a homicide public defender, how he can not become a hashtag. we try to practice safe practices of de-escalation, knowing your rights but trying to come home safe. >> come home safe, amen. thanks to all of you. we'll see you down the road. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, the act of bravery by an officer inspiring a nation to honor one of its bravest. out what it actually was. dust mite droppings? ewww. dead skin cells? gross! so now, i grab my swiffer heavy duty sweeper and dusters. dusters extends to 6 feet to reach way up high... to grab, trap and lock away gross dust. nice! for dust on my floors, i switch to sweeper. the heavy duty cloths reach deep in grooves to grab, trap and lock dust bunnies... no matter where they hide.

no more heebie jeebies. phhhhew. glad i stopped cleaning and started swiffering. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds! oh! (announcer) for those also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. it lowers the risk. oh! and i only have to take it once a week. oh! ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) ozempic® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away

if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. once-weekly ozempic® is helping me reach my blood sugar goal. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ you may pay as little as $25 for a 1-month or 3-month prescription. ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®.

♪ and finally tonight, service before self. it's the split-second decision capitol police officer eugene goodman, looking to his left, quick glance at the entrance of the senate floor. then luring the mob of insurrectionists to the right, away from trapped lawmakers, last week. members of the house today introducing a bill to recognize

eugene's courage that would award him the congressional gold medal. for one of america's true heroes. and we salute officer goodman. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.