As Raw Story reported earlier Friday, John Rivera, the head of Miami-Dade’s Police Benevolent Association, the city’s police union, said the officer who shot Kinsey was actually trying to shoot his autistic patient, in an attempt to protect the caregiver.
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A North Miami group home employee has been hailed as a “hero” after he was shot and injured by a police officer while he was lying on the ground next to a man with autism, who had run away from the home. The police department said on its Facebook page Thursday evening that the officer is a 30-year-old Hispanic. But it was one meant to calm the fears of a nation besieged with cellphone videos of police shooting and sometimes killing unarmed black men. He says the officer fired three times, wounding 47-year-old Charles Kinsey. The man, who wasn’t identified, had wandered away from the group home where Kinsey works as a therapist.
Police were responding to reports of a man with a gun threatening to kill himself, and the officers arrived “with that threat in mind”, the chief said.
At a news conference Thursday, Chief Eugene said the investigation has been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney’s office.
On Thursday the authorities revealed that they were investigating a police shooting in which an officer shot an African American man who said his hands were raised and empty at the time. He said he tried to tell an officer that the autistic man had a toy truck but she told him to get back.
Soon after, AP notes, North Miami cops fired three shots, and Kinsey, who was trying to persuade his autistic patient to come back with him to the mental health facility where the therapist worked, was wounded in the leg. A video of the lead-up to the shooting has drawn national attention in the days that have followed.
“It appeared to the officers that the white male was trying to do harm to Mr. Kinsey”, Rivera said. No weapon was recovered.
For now, the officer is on administrative leave, and state authorities are taking over the investigation. He said he has never had a problem with North Miami police.
While the shooting wasn’t captured on camera, there is a recording showing the moments before the gunshots.
“From what I saw, he was lying on the ground with his hands up”.
Retired firearms expert Robert Hoelscher, who spent 50 years with the Miami-Dade Police Department, said it’s hard to perceive how the situation was misjudged, but it was – grossly. Hoelscher asked. “You can’t get enough training when you’re dealing with lethal force”.
Charles Kinsey held his hands in the air and shouted to police that the autistic man sitting on the street next to him wasn’t risky. City officials did not return a phone call seeking confirmation.
“There has been a discussion of a potential settlement, (and) they want to resolve it relatively fast in good faith to let the community know that they take these things seriously, but I’m not at liberty to discuss the terms of the settlement or what we think a potential settlement will be at this point”, Napoleon said. It then briefly shows the aftermath of the shooting.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters the Justice Department is aware of the shooting and working with local law enforcement to gather all of the facts and to decide how to proceed.
“Without changes in policy and improved training of officers, we will very likely see more needless shootings and deaths at the hands of police”, he said in a statement.
The shooting she said, isn’t typical of the city, which she described as a “melting pot”.
“We’re not accustomed to this tension that is evolving because of this shooting”, she said.
Rivera said it wasn’t clear Thursday if the officer who fired his weapon had undergone Crisis Intervention Training.
Kinsey was shot just around the corner from the home, in front of an electrical grid station. I’m unarmed, he’s an autistic guy. He said that the police officer involved “wishes nothing but the best for Mr. Kinsey and the officer is praying for his speedy recovery, as are we”.
During the incident, the patient was holding a toy truck.
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“This wasn’t a mistake in the sense that the officer shot the wrong guy or he thought that Kinsey was the bad guy”, Rivera said in a press conference Thursday.
