Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot Jacob Blake last year, has returned to duty according to the Kenosha PD:

Media Release pic.twitter.com/wdq5QaNNyk

— Kenosha Police Dept. (@KenoshaPolice) April 13, 2021

District Attorney Michael Graveley announced in January that Sheskey would not be charged in the incident because the evidence suggested he could make a case for self defense. Graveley gave a lengthy description of why he felt that was the case including the fact that Blake had a felony warrant and police were obligated not to let him go. Also, something which I’ve rarely seen mentioned in any media accounts is the fact that Blake clearly lied to investigators:

He claimed not to know why the officers were trying to arrest him. He flatly claimed he had no idea there was a warrant out for his arrest. But the investigators found a text on Blake’s phone in which he mentioned that there was an arrest warrant out for him. It was the only warrant for his arrest so there’s no confusion which warrant this was about. He also had searched for his own warrant on a website. In short, he lied and his credibility as a prosecution witness would be severely limited because of that.

That doesn’t get mentioned in NBC News write up today of Sheskey’s return to work. In fact, NBC appears to still be unwilling to say that Blake had a knife in his hand during the incident:

Blake was near a knife when he was shot, state prosecutors have said, and a blade was found in the footwell of the vehicle. Raysean White, the bystander who recorded the video, said he heard police yelling “drop the knife!” but never saw Blake armed with a blade.

He was near a knife? Why is NBC still trying to raise doubt about whether Blake was armed? Blake admitted three months ago in a television interview with ABC News that he was holding a knife:

“I shouldn’t have picked it up,” Blake now admits, adding “I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

At this point there’s another edit and Strahan jumps in to help explain Blake’s alleged plan. “You were thinking once you get the knife into the car you were going to just say…” Strahan said.

Blake interjected, “Throw myself to the ground and put my arms behind my back.”

As I wrote at the time, this explanation makes zero sense. Blake wasn’t about to surrender, he was about to drive away in a car that didn’t belong to him, despite a felony warrant that he knew about in advance. Getting away is what he was trying to do the entire time. But that fanciful explanation was good enough for the Washington Post which went with this headline:

HEADLINE: "Jacob Blake says he was ready to surrender before being shot"

Article: Jacob Blake says he was ready to surrender before being shot, but after he was tased, pulled out the taser darts & put his OPEN KNIFE back in his car. Then he'd surrender…https://t.co/N8F3HkYBu0 https://t.co/357cZ2OUZf pic.twitter.com/fsoEQFNrYN

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) January 14, 2021

But again, the real mystery here is why NBC News is still framing this as if it’s an open question? Blake did have the knife. He admitted to picking it up. The fact that a witness many feet away couldn’t see it is irrelevant as are the prior denials by Blake’s high-profile attorney Benjamin Crump who told media outlets his client didn’t have a knife prior to Blake himself admitting he did.

January 5th: @NYTimes:

"Ben Crump, a lawyer for Mr. Blake’s family, denied that Mr. Blake had been carrying a knife…"

Jacob Blake admitted on @GMA today that he was carrying an *open knife*.

So has @AttorneyCrump been asked about his statement?https://t.co/vJQhyVqMzy pic.twitter.com/5P8irqXuGY

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) January 14, 2021