Days after Charles Kinsey was shot by North Miami police as the behavioral health care worker tried to help a patient, we now know more about the officer who fired the shot – and according to the head of the local police union, the officer was trying to shoot Kinsey’s patient, a man with autism, not Kinsey.
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However, on Friday, his Commander Emile Hollant was suspended without pay for “conflicting statements given to the investigators, ” North Miami City Manager Larry M. Spring Jr told reporters at a news conference.
In an interview with NBC Miami, Kinsey’s attorney Hilton Napoleon said that the officer who shot Kinsey admitted that he had no idea why he fired his weapon. The video depicts a man lying with his back faced to the ground, his hands up in the air, while there was another man sitting near him cross-legged. He shot after another officer, in a radio transmission, suggested the autistic man was loading his weapon, which turned out to be the toy truck, the source said. Apparently, Rivera said, the officer thought the toy truck the patient was holding was actually a loaded gun. The 47-year-old behavior therapist employed by the group home was trying to calm the man down when they got there.
“When he hit me, I’m like, ‘I still got my hands in the air, ‘” he said. “You can’t clearly hear Mr. Kinsey”, Rivera said.
Kinsey yelled at officers in an attempt to tell them he was unarmed, but after several minutes he was shot in the leg. “A insane guy ran by with a revolver in his hand and they have him on the ground”, a woman is heard saying in Spanish. “This is not a case of police abuse”, he said.
Horacio Stuart Aguirre, chairman of the Civilian Investigative Panel – a group that conducts reviews and investigations into the Miami Police Department’s use of force policies, said of Ortiz, “In his mind, any time a cop fires a gun, it’s justified”.
Donohoe said he tells officers and firefighters that their uniforms can be scary and trigger an emotional meltdown. It read in part, “I did what I had to do in a split-second”.
The shooting occurred when police responded to reports that a man was threatening to commit suicide.
Thomas Matthews says he watched the buildup to Monday’s shooting of Charles Kinsey by North Miami police officers through binoculars.
“The fact that they were trying to cover this up initially is a huge problem”, Napoleon said to WTVJ. He asked his patient to be still and lie down.
City officials expressed outrage at a news conference Friday but said an investigation was necessary to determine what happened.
“I don’t understand if he’s aiming at the autistic kid, how he could miss”, Napoleon said to the Miami Herald.
The State Attorney’s Office said they will be conducting their own investigation once the FDLE completes theirs.
Despite the officer’s statement, protesting the idea that his decision to shoot was racially motivated, national discussion about policing and police violence remains fraught. “But I guess with all the shootings that are going on, they are nervous and shook up”.
Rivera argued that the North Miami incident is unlike the other ones because this time the cop thought of Kinsey as a possible victim worthy of protection – not the suspect.
Despite his efforts, one of the responding officers shot Kinsey while he was lying down. Jonathan Aledda fired in their direction, thinking Kinsey was in danger, police officials said Thursday, but shot Kinsey instead. Distrust of police officers grew throughout the nation this month after officers shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, Minn.
Becerra said she suggests that officers hand the autistic person a cellphone or other device.
North Miami police have opened up a hotline for community comments.
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According to the police union chief, the officer involved is described as a 30-year-old Hispanic man.
