Police shoot autistic man’s unarmed black carer who had hands in air
Behavioural therapist Charles Kinsey was hospitalised after he was shot three times in the leg by a North Miami police officer during an incident on Monday, media said.
Kinsey told WSVN-TV in Miami that he was trying to calm an autistic patient who had just ran away from an area group home. Kinsey said he found the patient sitting in a street playing with a toy truck.
A video that accompanied the news station’s online story showed a black man in a T-shirt and shorts lying on his back with his hands up next to a man, who appears to have an object in his hand.
“All he has is a truck. A toy truck. I’m a behaviour therapist at a group home,” a man is heard saying in the video as police officers are seen with their weapons drawn.
North Miami Police said that officers responded to a call of an armed suspect threatening suicide.
At some point during the on-scene negotiation, one of the responding officers fired his weapon, striking the employee, police said.
The moment of the shooting was not captured on the video and it is unclear why the officer fired his weapon.
An officer has been placed under administrative leave. An investigation is ongoing with the assistance of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
