Kyle Rittenhouse has vowed to ‘prove my innocence again’ after the man he shot in 2020 sued him for ’emotional distress and humiliation’.
Gaige Grosskreutz, who testified that Rittenhouse had pointed a gun at him and shot him during the 2020 Kenosha riots, will sue the 20-year-old for ‘damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims.’
Grosskreutz ‘must live with the physical and emotional wounds inflicted by Defendant Rittenhouse and the Defendants who deputized and enabled him,’ the lawsuit says.
It claims that ‘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.’
This comes only weeks after the father of Anthony Huber, who was shot and killed by Rittenhouse during the protests, brought forward a ‘wrongful death’ lawsuit against Rittenhouse, also alleging he conspired with police to target protestors.
Rittenhouse was previously found not guilty on all counts by a jury at trial in November 2021, after fatally shooting two protestors and injuring a third during the 2020 Kenosha riots in Wisconsin.
Kyle Rittenhouse waits for the jury to enter the room to continue testifying during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on November 10, 2021 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Using a microphone as a prop for his Glock handgun, Gaige Grosskreutz shows the jury how he was holding the gun in his right hand when he was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse, 8 November 2021
A protester clashes with Kyle Rittenhouse (center, ground) as a man (right) shot in the chest during confrontations between protesters and civilians, who claimed to protect Kenosha
Gaige Grosskreutz was among protestors in Kenosha on 25 August 2020, which formed following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha.
Blake was shot four times in the back on 23 August and left paralyzed from the waist down.
Grosskreutz and Rittenhouse met in the protests, as Rittenhouse, then 17-years-old, had travelled from his home in Illinois reportedly with the intention to protect businesses from rioters.
During the clash, Rittenhouse shot three men including Grosskreutz with his AR-15-style assault rifle.
Grosskreutz testified he was pointing his own gun at Rittenhouse before he was shot in the arm.
He said he did not intend to shoot Rittenhouse as he had his hands raised, holding the gun towards him.
A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty of five felony charges including a murder charge.
Since then, victims and their families have brought forward separate lawsuits against Rittenhouse.
The suit levied by John Huber, father of protestor Anthony Huber, alleges Rittenhouse and other ‘counter-protestors’ were ‘subject to a different set of rules and were allowed to move about freely in areas controlled’ by law enforcement.
It also claims that officers violated Anthony Huber’s constitutional rights when they allowed the riots to erupt into violence, resulting in his death.
Rittenhouse told Fox the lawsuit from Grosskreutz came as a shock as ‘he admitted that he pointed a gun in my face and that he chased me down’.
CBS 58 reported the lawsuit named Rittenhouse, former Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and former Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis as defendants, as well as the city and county of Kenosha and other counties and municipalities who sent personnel to Kenosha during the protests.
Kyle Rittenhouse shared his immediate thoughts on the new lawsuit on Twitter
Rittenhouse walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha on 25 August 2020 with his AR15-style rifle
Gaige Grosskreutz describes the moments where he was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during the trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha on 8 November 2021
Rittenhouse has divided opinion since the verdict in 2021.
President Biden came out after the decision and said he was ‘angry and concerned‘, but said he stood with the jury’s decision.
‘I stand with the jury as the jury system has concluded. The jury system works and you have to abide by it,’ he told reporters at the time.
Rittenhouse, meanwhile, has gone on to attract a following of sorts, last year picking up a large following on his new shooting channel on YouTube.
