Officers Vincent Arenas and Brittany Meronek resumed on January 20 after being placed on administrative leave on August 23, 2020.
“Officers Arenas and Meronek were not charged with any crime and after review by Kenosha County District Attorney and an independent investigator, former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, the actions taken by the officers were reasonable and justified,” reads the release.
Rusten Sheskey, the officer who shot Blake seven times, is still on administrative leave “pending the findings of a Kenosha police’s use of the deadly violence review board,” the release reads.
The decision not to charge Sheskey, followed by the decision to allow the two other officers to return to work, took place amid anger over the repeated deaths of black people among police.
DA says Blake was armed with a knife
Sheskey, a white officer, shot Blake, a 29-year-old black man, seven times while responding to a domestic incident on August 23, 2020. Blake survived the shooting but was paralyzed from the waist down.
Sheskey told investigators he used deadly force during the chaotic encounter because he feared Blake was trying to abduct a child in the back seat of the vehicle.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Blake had a knife in his possession and the weapon was found on the floor plan of his vehicle. Blake himself told authorities he owned a knife, Graveley said.
An attorney for Blake’s family disputes that Blake poses a threat.
“There was no point in the video that could be articulated for an officer to say that he was harmed at that particular point. I think it’s completely fake and I think it’s just a rationalization to try to show what actually, in essence, an intentional act, ”said attorney B’Ivory LaMarr after Graveley announced his decision.
‘It’s not against the law to have a knife, people have knives for different reasons. Jacob Blake is familiar with a knife. ‘
CNN’s Ray Sanchez and Brad Parks contributed to this report.