North Miami Cops Shoot Behavioral Therapist Trying to Help Autistic Patient Who

[Silent_Bob]

http://reason.com/blog/2016/07/20/north-miami-cops-shoot-behavioral-therap

Cops in North Miami were caught on cellphone video shooting Charles Kinsey, a behavioral specialist, while he lay on the ground with his hands in the air, as reported by WSVN.

Kinsey says he was trying to intervene on behalf of an autistic patient who had run off from the group home. According to police, someone called 911 to report a suicidal man walking around with a gun. The group home patient had a toy truck in his hands.

"When I went to the ground, I went to the ground with my hands up," Kinsey told WSVN, "and I am laying there just like this. Telling them again there is no need for firearms. He is autistic. He has a toy truck in his hand."

"I was really more worried about him than myself. I was thinking as long as I have my hands up," Kinsey continued. "They're not going to shoot me. This is what I'm thinking, they're not going to shoot me. Wow, was I wrong."

Cops did, however, shoot Kinsey. "I thought it was a mosquito bite," Kinsey explained to WSVN, "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.'"

Police did not identify the police officer who shot Kinsey and would not update WSVN about their investigation, although they say the state is also investigating the incident.

WSVN reported that this evening a group of protesters arrived outside the police department headquarters, "requesting that police answer questions about what happened and if the officer responsible for shooting will face charges."

Watch the WSVN segment below:

https://youtu.be/7zIYzSN3jGM

[KBCraig]

The police union version: he wasn't trying to shoot the black man with his hands in the air, he was trying to shoot the autistic man sitting on the ground playing with a toy truck.

He couldn't even hit the correct man-sized target from 25 yards away.

[blackie]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/24/health/north-miami-police-charles-kinsey-shooting/index.html

(CNN)A man with autism, who was sitting next to his unarmed caregiver when police shot the latter in Florida, is so traumatized by the incident, he's not eating or sleeping, his family says.

Arnaldo Eliud Rios Soto, 26, wandered away from his group home in North Miami last week -- and became the latest image of the national debate about police shooting of unarmed men.
Charles Kinsey, his behavior therapist, was trying to help him Monday when police responded to a 911 call about a suicidal man with a gun.

A cell phone video released later showed Kinsey lying on the ground, his hands up in the air, while Rios sat nearby.
Kinsey said police shot him as he appealed to the officers that Rios had autism, and he was not holding a weapon.
"All he has is a toy truck ... a toy truck," he says in the video as he implores Rios to sit still. I'm a behavior therapist at a group home."

Family: 'He was so devastated'

While Rios was not shot, his injuries go much deeper, his family said.

"The next day, he was so upset, he was so devastated, he went right back to where Mr. Kinsey was shot," said attorney Matthew Dietz, who represents the family.

"Where there was blood on the street and he started pounding the ground, and crying and shouting."

Rios was transferred to a psychiatric home after he returned to the scene of the shooting, according to Dietz.

Dietz said since Rios cannot talk and only says a few words, he has no outlet to address what happened that day.

"His injuries are long lasting because he does not have a method to deal with them," the attorney said.

"If this police department had adequate training, this would not have happened," Dietz said. "... They should have known we may have a person with autism."