A North Miami, Florida, police officer who shot an unarmed black mental health therapist was identified Friday as a SWAT team member, and a police commander accused of fabricating information about the shooting was suspended.
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The city declined to say specifically what statements Hollant had made, citing the information as part of an “ongoing investigation”.
Then Rivera says Kinsey, who can be heard telling police who he was and about his patient on video, says the officers couldn’t hear him.
Bystander video shows Kinsey lying in the street with his hands up shortly before the shooting. The autistic man had a toy truck, and no gun was found at the scene, other than the weapons brought by law enforcement.
The therapist, who is black and works with people with disabilities, was rounding up a patient who had wandered away from a facility when he was ordered by police officers to lie on the ground. “In fearing for Mr. Kinsey’s life, the officer discharged his firearm trying to save Mr. Kinsey’s life and he missed”.
Kinsey was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the leg. Miami police say they are investigating the shooting internally.
“I did what I had to do in a split second to accomplish that and hate to hear others paint me as something I am not”.
There also needs to be recognition that we have some policing problems and never was that more evident than last Monday in North Miami.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation.
With many Americans quickly expressing outrage over the incident, CBS Miami reports that the head of the local police union is now speaking up about it.
“That was a man who was at work, who was caring for another individual on the ground”.
Rivera offered an explanation Thursday, saying that the police officer opened fire because he thought the white man, whom authorities later learned has autism, was going to harm Kinsey.
While Rios was not shot during the incident, his injuries go much deeper, his family said.
The family’s attorney Matthew Dietz on Saturday criticized the police’s training in dealing with people with mental illness. “So many of our police officers come from the community (and) live in the community”.
It was soon followed by the death of Philando Castile, who was legally registered to carry a gun and told an officer that he had a weapon during a July 6 traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb.
The shooting was not recorded on a video provided to Reuters by Kinsey’s lawyer. But at a news conference, North Miami City Manager Larry Spring answered a big one. You arrive on scene and a guy’s playing with a toy truck. He was released from the hospital Thursday.
“Preventable violence occurs every day in our society, and we call on all people to refuse it and gather in support of those seeking justice”, Lancaster NAACP President Blanding Watson said in a statement.
Hollant later allegedly told investigators he was not present at the shooting.
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“He’s still traumatized, he’s having night terrors”, his sister said. Recently, Robinson Peete posted a older, powerful clip from her reality show “For Peete’s Sake”, in which she and her husband, Rodney Peete, sat down with RJ and explained to him what to do to stay safe and alive if he ever has an encounter with the police.
