A North Miami police officer shot a man in the leg three times while he laid on the ground with his hands up. Charles Kinsey, a behavioral therapist at a local group home, was caring for an autistic patient who was playing with a toy truck and made this clear before he was shot.
Kinsey is listed in good condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital and did an interview with WSVN to tell his side of the story.
“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.’”
According to WSVN, North Miami Police said a 911 call came in Monday about an armed man threatening suicide.
Once on the scene, police spokeswoman Natalie Buissereth said officers “attempted to negotiate” with the men.
Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, denounced the police officer’s actions saying Kinsey immediately threw his hands in the air. Napoleon went on to reference the video, noting that you can clearly see the patient playing with the toy truck, which in no way resembles a gun. Kinsey can be heard identifying the object as a toy in the video as well.
“It is not silver. It is not shiny. It is not black. It doesn’t look like a gun,” Napoleon told Local 10. “In fact, you can see the autistic guy playing with it.”
The unnamed North Miami Police officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave which is department policy.
