The North Miami cop who shot an unarmed man trying to calm a patient with autism was hit accidentally, police union officials said, and the officer believed he was saving that man’s life.
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Cuevas said police ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.
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.
Further investigation revealed that an unnamed individual called 911 and reported a person with a gun in the same street before Kinsey or the police arrived on the scene.
Video footage shows Charles Kinsey lying prone with his hands in the air shortly before he was shot by police in North Miami, Fla., on July 18, 2016. After the shooting, a second cellphone video clip shows police rolling Kinsey and the autistic man over on the ground, searching them and handcuffing Kinsey.
Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, said his client also heard another officer ask the same question.
North Miami Police are releasing few details, citing an ongoing investigation, and the officer who fired the shots hasn’t been identified. Kinsey, a behavioral therapist, was trying to comfort an autistic patient who wandered away from his group home on Monday. They said they didn’t agree with the reason why the officer fired his weapon. The officer responded, “I don’t know”, Kinsey said.
Kinsey’s wife Joyce said: “I’m just grateful he’s alive and able to tell his story”. “This is a case where a police officer was trying to save Mr. Kinsey’s life and, unfortunately, his shot went astray”.
“Bringing in an outside agency shows our commitment to transparency and objectivity in a very sensitive matter”, Eugene said.
A Florida policeman shot and wounded an autistic man’s unarmed black therapist on Monday, local media reports. “I assure you we will get all the answers“. “They’re not going to shoot me”, he told WSVN-TV (http://bit.ly/2ac7zm1 ) from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg. Chief Eugene told reporters that officers responded to the scene with the threat of a gun in mind, but no gun was recovered.
Howard Simon, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, condemned the shooting.
This despite the fact that caretaker Charles Kinsey had repeatedly told officers that it was a toy truck. “Wow, was I wrong”, he said.
This new shooting comes at a time of widespread protest against police shootings of black people, particularly Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile of Minnesota.
Following those two deaths, 10 law enforcement officers were fatally shot in attacks in Dallas, Baton Rouge and in a MI courthouse.
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Kinsey said: “I’m saying, “Sir, why did you shoot me?”
