Kyle Rittenhouse has said he is being sued for “defending” his life as the estate of a man he killed brings a new lawsuit against him.
According to updates filed on litigation monitoring site pacermonitor.com, a complaint with jury demand has been filed against “all defendants” by the estate of Joseph Rosenbaum, who was killed during the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.
It is suing Rittenhouse, along with Kenosha officials, local sheriff’s departments, the City of Kenosha, the City of West Allis, and several counties for “compensatory and punitive damages” in the “wrongful death” of Rosenbaum.
Rittenhouse, 20, hit international headlines after he travelled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, from his home in Antioch, Illinois, where he shot three men during the disturbances that were sparked by the shooting of Joseph Blake, a Black man, by police officers.
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Two of the victims died after being shot with an assault rifle. In a high-profile trial, Rittenhouse was found not guilty for the murders of Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber after the jury ruled he had acted in self-defense. He was 17 at the time of the killings. The verdict was met with protests across the U.S.
The complaint claims police “deputized” 10 armed individuals and “ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit.”
It claims the actions of officials led directly to Rittenhouse shooting Rosenbaum and his death, along with the death of Huber and the injury of another victim, Gaige Grosskreutz.
Multiple officers are named in the complaint, including former sheriff of Kenosha County David Beth, former Kenosha Chief of Police Daniel Miskinis, and a number of unknown “John Doe” officers.
Rittenhouse has consistently maintained that in shooting the men he was acting in self-defense, and has said lawsuits against him following his murder trial have made his life “difficult.”
“These lawsuits are making it harder and harder for me to move on with my life,” Rittenhouse told Texas Scorecard. “It is extremely difficult to go outside without fear of being harassed or assaulted because of the lies spread in these lawsuits. No one should have to continue to defend the fact that they acted in self-defense.”
Texas Scorecard is a nonprofit organization that says in its mission statement that it reports the advancement of self governance for Texas “and beyond.”
Speaking to Newsweek via email, a lawyer for the estate of Rosenbaum, Kimberly Motley, said: “At this time, our comment is in letting the lawsuit speak for itself.”
Newsweek has contacted Rittenhouse via Twitter for comment.