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An unarmed behavioral therapist says he was shot by police in North Miami while lying on the ground with his arms up and trying to help his autistic patient, who had run away from a group home.
Charles Kinsey, 47, was shot once in the leg and is recovering in the hospital, he told WSVN-TV.
He was next to his 23-year-old patient, who was playing with a toy truck while sitting cross-legged in the middle of the road, a video of the moments before the shooting shows. You can watch the video above.
Police had responded to the area near Northeast 14th Avenue and Northeast 127th Street for a report of an armed man threatening suicide, WPLG-TV reports
But Kinsey says the “armed man” was his confused patient, who was holding a toy truck, not a gun.
“All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behavioral therapist at a group home,” Kinsey can be heard saying to the officers before he was shot.
The officer involved in the shooting has not yet been named.
The shooting itself was not caught on the cell phone camera.
Here’s what you need to know about Kinsey and the shooting:
1. Kinsey Says He Asked the Officers Not to Shoot Him Before 1 of the Officers Fired 3 Times
(Facebook)
Charles Kinsey told the officers he and the autistic patient were not armed, and asked them not to shoot them. The officers were armed with rifles.
“When I went to the ground, I’m going to the ground just like this here with my hands up,” Kinsey said told WSVN-TV, raising his arms while in his hospital bed. “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.’”
North Miami Police issued a statement about the shooting:
There is preliminary information that North Miami Police Officers were dispatched to the scene after a 911 call was received of an armed male suspect threatening suicide. Arriving officers attempted to negotiate with two men on the scene, one of whom was later identified as suffering from autism. The other man was later identified as an employee of an assisted living facility. At some point during the on-scene negotiation, one of the responding officers discharged his weapon, striking the employee.
Kinsey told the news station the officer fired three times, hitting him once, in the leg.
“I’m like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising,” said Kinsey. “I thought it was a mosquito bite, and when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I’m thinking I just got shot! And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me were, ‘I don’t know.’”
WATCH: Man With His Arms Up Shot by North Miami Police
Charles Kinsey, a therapist helping an autistic patient, was shot by North Miami Police while on the ground with his hands in the air. Watch the video here.
2. He Was Handcuffed While Bleeding in the Street After the Shooting
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Kinsey told WSVN-TV that that after he was shot he was handcuffed and left bleeding in the street.
“They flipped me over, and I’m faced down in the ground, with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come,” Kinsey told the news statin. “I’d say about 20, about 20 minutes it took the rescue squad to get there. And I was like, bleeding — I mean bleeding and I was like, ‘Wow.’”
He said his life flashed before his eyes when he was shot, and he thought about his family. His wife was at his bedside Wednesday.
“Right now, I am just grateful that he is alive, and he is able to tell his story,” she told WSVN.
According to the Miami Herald, Kinsey is likely to be released from the hospital Thursday and is expected to fully recover.
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3. His Attorney Says He Is Trying to Work Out a Settlement With the City
(Facebook)
Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon, told the Miami Herald he is in settlement talks with the city.
“They realize this was something inappropriate regarding the shooting,” Napoleon said. “If police departments come out more and admit fault, that would probably go a long way.”
Napoleon told WPLG-TV the family wants the officer to be punished.
In an interview with WTVJ-TV, Napoleon said he thinks the shooting was accidental, because his client was shot in the leg. He said if the officer thought Kinsey was a threat, he would’ve been shot in the head or chest.
He also said he thinks police may have been on edge after recent ambush attacks on officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
“I can’t say that it did in this case specifically, but it leads you to wonder that had those things not happened, had the police not been ambushed in those parts and had they not been on heightened alert, would they have come out with assault rifles and accidentally, I don’t know if it was intentional or accidental, shot an individual who’s laying on the ground with his hands up,” Napoleon said. “He was on the ground, he was laying on the ground with his hands up and he got shot in the leg.”
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4. Kinsey Has Worked at the Group Home Where the Patient Lives for More Than a Year
Charles Kinsey. (Facebook)
Kinsey has worked as a behavioral therapist at the MacTown Panther Group Homes for more than a year, his attorney told the Miami Herald.
He went to Miami Northwestern High School and Miami-Dade College, according to his Facebook page.
Kinsey previously worked at the EDC Academy of Excellence, a private school in Miami.
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5. The Unnamed Officer Has Been Placed on Administrative Leave as the Shooting Is Investigated by Police & the State’s Attorney
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The officer involved in the shooting, who has not yet been identified, has been placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy. The shooting is being investigated by the North Miami Police Department and the Miami-Dade State’s Attorney’s office, officials say.
Police have asked any witnesses to the shooting to come forward.
It is not clear if any other video of the shooting exists.
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Tom Cleary is a reporter and editor for Heavy.com. Tom was a breaking news reporter at the Connecticut Post and an editor at the Register Citizen and New Haven Register. He can be reached by email at Tom.Cleary@Heavy.com. Follow him on Twitter @tomwcleary.July 21, 2016 12:25 am
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