EXCLUSIVE – A man who was shot in the arm by Kyle Rittenhouse during the Kenosha riots in 2020 has filed a lawsuit against Rittenhouse and Wisconsin police and officials, Fox News Digital has learned.
Gaige Grosskreutz, who testified that he pointed a firearm at Rittenhouse before the then-teenager shot Grosskreutz and two others, is seeking economic losses, “damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims,” and punitive damages.
“Astonishingly, the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, their supervising officials and police officers, and law enforcement officers from surrounding communities did not treat Defendant Rittenhouse or any of the other armed individuals patrolling the streets as a threat to the safety of themselves or the citizens they were sworn to protect,” states the lawsuit, which was obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Instead, the law enforcement Defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit,'” said the lawsuit filed Feb. 14 by attorneys Kimberley Motley of Motley Legal Services and E. Milo Schwab of Ascend Counsel.
KYLE RITTENHOUSE FOUND NOT GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN KENOSHA TRIAL
Gaige Grosskreutz watches video of the shooting as he testifies during Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial at Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Nov. 8, 2021. (Mark Hertzberg/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Rittenhouse told Fox News Digital that he is ready to “prove my innocence again” in the suit, but he said it will come with a hefty price tag.
Grosskreutz was one of three men shot by Rittenhouse in August 2020 in what Rittenhouse’s lawyers argued was self-defense before the then-teenager was acquitted on homicide charges.
KENOSHA PROTESTERS DEMAND RITTENHOUSE BE FOUND GUILTY
Violence erupted in Kenosha following the Aug. 23, 2020, police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man left paralyzed from the waist down. Blake’s shooting added to the roiling tensions and protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day that year.
Grosskreutz joined protests in the wake of Blake’s shooting on Aug. 25, the night Rittenhouse also took to the streets with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle in what he said was an effort to protect businesses from damage amid the unrest.
Kyle Rittenhouse is sworn in before testifying in his trial at Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Nov. 10, 2021. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)
Rittenhouse was charged with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted homicide and other charges after he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured Grosskreutz.
During the trial, Grosskreutz testified that he was pointing his own pistol at Rittenhouse before the then-17-year-old shot Grosskreutz in the arm.
Grosskreutz told the prosecution team during the trial that he had his hands raised as he closed in on Rittenhouse and didn’t intend to shoot the teenager when he pointed the gun at him.
People watch as the American flag flies over a burning building during a riot as demonstrators protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Joshua Lott for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“That’s not the kind of person that I am. That’s not why I was out there,” he said when asked why he didn’t shoot Rittenhouse first. “It’s not who I am. And definitely not somebody I would want to become.”
Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty in November 2021, told Fox News Digital that the lawsuit came as “a little bit of a shock.”
“I guess it came as a shock to why he’s filing a lawsuit because he admitted that he pointed a gun in my face and that he chased me down,” Rittenhouse added.
The lawsuit argues that Grosskreutz “approached with his hands in the air to try to ease the situation and stop the killing.”
“Defendant Rittenhouse instead shot Mr. Grosskreutz in the bicep, leaving a gaping wound. Thankfully, Mr. Grosskreutz did not die that day,” the lawsuit says. “But he must live with the physical and emotional wounds inflicted by Defendant Rittenhouse and the Defendants who deputized and enabled him. The conduct of the Defendants in this case directly caused Gaige Grosskreutz’s injury.”
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The lawsuit also names as defendants the city of Kenosha, Kenosha County, five other neighboring counties, police officers, former Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and former Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis.
