A black man in Florida has been shot by police as he tried to help his patient with autism, who had run away from the group home where he worked.
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The police shooting of a black therapist in Miami was “accidental” as the officer had meant to shoot the man’s autistic patient instead, says a Florida union.
The incident began, according to police, when someone called 911 to say that a man was in the roadway at Northeast 127th Street and 14th Avenue with a gun and was threatening to kill himself.
Mobile phone footage shows Mr Kinsey on the ground with his arms in the air, with the young autistic man sitting on the ground nearby playing with a small white toy.
But despite all of that, Kinsey said a North Miami officer still shot him.
Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, said his client heard another officer ask why he opened fire.
“They flipped me over, and I’m laying down on the concrete.”, Kinsey said.
Kinsey recalled the incident, saying: “I’m like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising”. “I did what I had to do in a split-second to accomplish that, and hate to hear others paint me as something I’m not”.
“And I said, “no I just got shot” and I’m saying, “sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me, he said, ‘I don’t know”. This is what I’m thinking. They said they want to know the officer’s name and more transparency about what exactly happened. “Everytime I close my eyes I am getting flashbacks”, Kinsey said.
This despite the fact that caretaker Charles Kinsey had repeatedly told officers that it was a toy truck.
The US has seen a wave of protests over police shooting unarmed black men.
Part of the problem here is a failing mental health system that forces police to respond to situations where officers may not be trained to help people in mental distress, which can lead to violent escalations, according toThe Washington Post. “They’re not going to shoot me”, he told WSVN.
AN unarmed care worker was shot by police in North Miami while attempting to calm down his autistic patient.
Police need to acknowledge this feeling among African-American men and work to find a solution, said Chuck Drago, a white former police chief in Oviedo, Florida.
Mr Kinsey kept his hands raised in the air during the entire confrontation and did not move.
The recording, along with a second video taken after the gunshots and showing Kinsey and the autistic man being handcuffed, was the latest in the seemingly unending stream of violent encounters between police and black men captured on camera and propelled into national headlines. They said they didn’t agree with the reason why the officer fired his weapon.
The investigation has been turned over to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, Cuevas said.
Police in North Miami have offered few details about the incident. “Freezing. But he was still shot”, she said. “A toy truck. I am a behavior therapist at a group home”, Kinsey says.
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“Our kids love electronics”, she said.
