Shocking video footage shows Charles Kinsey lying on his back on the pavement with his hands in the air, desperately telling North Miami police he’s a mental health worker and not to shoot, as he tried to calm his patient.
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Various groups and members of the community angered after the shooting of Charles Kinsey, the unarmed therapist, who is seen on a video helping an autistic patient who was holding a toy truck.
Police say someone called them Monday, saying a man had a gun and was threatening to kill himself. Some of the details are still a bit unclear, but what is clear is that Kinsey got on the ground with his hands raised when police pulled weapons and it apparently didn’t make any difference-he was shot once in the leg by the North Miami officers.
Kinsey was then shot by North Miami Police, despite being unarmed and pleading with the officers, his hands in the air.
“This is a case where a police officer was trying to save Mr. Kinsey’s life, and unfortunately, his shot went astray”, Rivera said.
Kinsey’s lawyer, Hilton Napoleon, said he is in talks with city officials about a possible settlement.
The North Miami Police Department hasn’t identified the officer, but he’s been placed on administrative leave (as is customary) pending an investigation.
“There are many questions about what happened on Monday night”, the chief said. “I assure you, we’ll get all the answers”, the police chief told reporters Thursday. “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. Protests have erupted in major USA cities during the past year and a half, as widely viewed videos of police shootings of black men drew attention to long-standing issues of race, policing and lack of accountability for officers.
Alton Sterling died July 5 during a scuffle with two white Baton Rouge police officers at a convenience store where he was selling CDs, as he had done for years.
The officer in question of shooting has not yet been named and is now in administrative leave.
“He has a toy truck in his hand!”
After Kinsey was shot, he said that the police did not immediately render aid: “They cuffed my hands, and they flipped me over, and I’m laying on the concrete like this right here, I’m bleeding”.
Following those two deaths, 10 law enforcement officers were fatally shot in attacks in Dallas, Baton Rouge and in a MI courthouse. It is unclear who recorded the video. “A toy truck. I am a behavioural therapist at a group home”.
Kinsey was shot moments later.
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“Rinaldo please be still, sit down, lay on your stomach Rinaldo”, Kinsey says.
