North Miami Police say they responded on July 20 to the area of Northeast 14th Avenue and Northeast 127th Street for a report of an armed man threatening suicide.
The "armed man" was a 23-year-old autistic patient who had wandered away from a nearby mental health center. He was sitting on the ground, playing with a toy truck.
47 year old behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey, a black man, was attending to the patient.
Multiple cops, armed with rifles, responded to the scene.
Kinsey was hit in the leg by one bullet. A photo shows Kinsey lying on his back with both hands in the air.
Speaking from his hospital bed Wednesday July 20 to a reporter for WSVN TV, Kinsey said "when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I'm thinking I just got shot! And I'm saying, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' and his words to me were, 'I don't know'."
The police administered no first aid. "They flipped me over, and I'm faced down in the ground, with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come", Kinsey said. "I'd say about 20, about 20 minutes it took the rescue squad to get there. And I was like, bleeding."
No gun was found at the scene.
At a Thursday July 21 press conference, the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association said the officer was a member of the SWAT team. The head of the PBA told reporters the officer was too far away to hear what Kinsey was saying before he fired.
Heavy.com Heavy.com with video
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956:
A Florida police officer shot and wounded an autistic man's black caretaker, authorities said, in an incident purportedly captured on cellphone video that shows the caretaker lying down with his arms raised before being shot.
Source: LA Times
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 23 2016, @08:47AM
His union claims differently:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/22/487027848/north-miami-officer-was-aiming-at-man-with-autism-union-chief-says [npr.org]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/miami-officer-trying-to-shoot-man-with-autism-instead-1.3690779 [www.cbc.ca]
http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/17677-cop-who-shot-therapist-says-he-was-aiming-for-autistic-patient-i-took-this-job [insideedition.com]
Like that somehow makes it better :).
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday July 27 2016, @07:11AM
The guy had a CAR! He was about to drive over and crush the officers. Well, once he got up, walked over and then ran the toy car over their feet.
Maybe they need to do eye-tests or issue binoculars (with extra training and pay for the additional workload).