Charles Kinsey: Unarmed South Florida man with hands up shot by police

A black therapist named Charles Kinsey was shot by the police while caring for his autistic patient in Miami on Monday. And the incident was caught on video.

The 47-year-old, unarmed black man works with people with disabilities.
At the time of the incident he was trying to get his 27-year-old patient back to a facility safely.

Authorities said the incident happened on Monday, following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.

North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to the scene and ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.

He said Kinsey was lying down, and put his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply.

The video shows Kinsey lying in the middle of the street with his hands up, asking the officers not to shoot him, while the autistic man sits next to him, yelling at him to ‘shut up’.

‘Sir, there’s no need for firearms,’ Kinsey said he told police before he was shot.

An officer then fired three times, striking Kinsey in the leg, Cuevas said.
Kinsey’s lawyer, Hilton Napoleon, gave the Herald the mobile phone video taken moments before the shooting.

Police have not released the name or race of the officer who shot him.

Agencies/Canadajournal