MOBILE phone footage has emerged of the moment an autistic man’s black carer was lying down with his hands in the air, before police shot him.
Authorities confirmed a police officer shot and wounded Charles Kinsey, the carer of a 23-year-old autistic man who had run away from a mental health facility in North Miami, Florida.
North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to a 911 call on Monday following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.
Officers arrived to find Kinsey, a therapist who works with disabilities, according toWSVN-TV, trying to get his patient back to a mental health facility from where he’d wandered.
Cuevas said police ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.
Kinsey is seen in the video footage across US media outlets lying down with his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply.
Kinsey can be heard in the mobile phone footage saying, “All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behaviour therapist at a group home.”
He is also heard asking his patient to calm down. “Rinaldo, please be still, Rinaldo. Sit down, Rinaldo. Lay on your stomach.”
Cuevas said an officer then fired three times, hitting Kinsey in the leg.
Kinsey told WSVN-TV: “When I went to the ground, I’m going to the ground just like this here with my hands up, and I am laying down here just like this, and I’m telling them again, ‘Sir, there is no need for firearms. I’m unarmed, he’s an autistic guy. He got a toy truck in his hand.”
Speaking from his hospital bed, Kinsey said he was trying to calm his autistic patient.
Kinsey recalled the incident, saying: “I’m like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising.”
“It was like a mosquito bite, and when it hit me, I’m like, ‘I still got my hands in the air, and I said, ‘No I just got shot! And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me, he said, ‘I don’t know,” he added.
Police shoot autistic man’s carer
Authorities confirmed a police officer shot and wounded Charles Kinsey, the carer of a 23-year-old autistic man who had run away from a mental health facility in North Miami, Florida.
North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to a 911 call on Monday following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.
Officers arrived to find Kinsey, a therapist who works with disabilities, according toWSVN-TV, trying to get his patient back to a mental health facility from where he’d wandered.
Cuevas said police ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.
Kinsey is seen in the video footage across US media outlets lying down with his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply.
Kinsey can be heard in the mobile phone footage saying, “All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behaviour therapist at a group home.”
He is also heard asking his patient to calm down. “Rinaldo, please be still, Rinaldo. Sit down, Rinaldo. Lay on your stomach.”
Cuevas said an officer then fired three times, hitting Kinsey in the leg.
Kinsey told WSVN-TV: “When I went to the ground, I’m going to the ground just like this here with my hands up, and I am laying down here just like this, and I’m telling them again, ‘Sir, there is no need for firearms. I’m unarmed, he’s an autistic guy. He got a toy truck in his hand.”
Speaking from his hospital bed, Kinsey said he was trying to calm his autistic patient.
Kinsey recalled the incident, saying: “I’m like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising.”
“It was like a mosquito bite, and when it hit me, I’m like, ‘I still got my hands in the air, and I said, ‘No I just got shot! And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me, he said, ‘I don’t know,” he added.
Police shoot autistic man’s carer