Jacob Blake Paralyzed & Handcuffed To Hospital Bed After Being Shot 7 Times By Kenosha Police Officer

Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man who was shot in the back seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been handcuffed to his hospital bed despite being completely paralyzed from the waist down, according to his family.

“I hate it that he was laying in that bed with the handcuff onto the bed,” Blake’s father, who is also named Jacob Blake, said on Thursday after visiting his son in the hospital. “He can’t go anywhere. Why do you have him cuffed to the bed?” The older Blake said that his son was cuffed because he was “under arrest,” though he isn’t sure what the charges are. “Right now, we don’t know. We’re playing it by ear,” the father said.

In a CNN interview, Blake Sr. described what his son said once he regained consciousness after the shooting. “He grabbed my hands and began to weep and he told me that he was having hallucinations. He said ‘Daddy, Daddy, I love you. Why did they shoot me so many times?’ I said, ‘Baby, they were not supposed to shoot you at all.'”

Kenosha police told the BBC that Blake was in custody for previous warrants, and that the cuffs were policy.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers showed concern on Thursday, after learning Blake had been handcuffed to his bed. “I would have no personal understanding why that would be necessary,” Evers said. “I can’t imagine why that’s happening and I would hope that we would be able to find a … better way to have him get better and recover.”

The shooting of Blake on Sunday has sparked mass protests in the city of Kenosha, after a cellphone video of the police shooting went viral on social media. The video shows Blake opening up the driver-side door of his car before being shot in the back seven times by a police officer. Three of Blake’s children were reportedly sitting in the back seat.