A video has emerged of an unarmed black carer lying down on the street with his hands in the air, capturing the moments before local police inexplicably shot him.
When he was shot, Charles Kinsey was lying beside the 23-year-old autistic man he cares for, who had run away from a North Miami mental health facility.
Neal Cuevas, the North Miami Assistant Police Chief, told The Miami Herald police responded to an emergency call on Monday that a man was threatening to kill himself in the middle of a road.
When officers arrived they found Charles sitting with the mentally disabled man, who was not in possession of a gun but instead playing with a toy truck. Charles was unthreatening, simply trying to coax his patient, Rinaldo, into returning to the facility.
Upon arrival, police demanded the pair lie on the ground and put their arms in the air.
While Charles did just that, Rinaldo stayed seated.
Horrified onlookers pulled out their phones to capture the footage from the periphery. In the video, Charles can be heard pleading with police.
“All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I am a behaviour therapist at a group home.” The carer can also be heard pleading with Rinaldo to follow police instructions. “Rinaldo, please be still, Rinaldo. Sit down, Rinaldo. Lay on your stomach.”
Then, for no obvious reason at all, police fired three shots at Charles, one hitting him in the leg.
"When I went to the ground, I’m going to the ground just like this here with my hands up," Charles since told WSVN-TV from his hospital bed.
"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.”
"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'."
After police shot him, they turned him face-down on the asphalt, patted him down and placed him in handcuffs.
While North Miami police have not released the officer's name, they say an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
In the US, the prevalence of police brutality towards black people is alarming. While black deaths at the hands of police are frequent, the unexplained shootings of Alton Sterling - a father and salesman - and Philando Castile earlier this month sparked outrage worldwide, and prompted a resurgence of the #BlackLivesMatter social media movement.
Top Comments
Disgusting. People are hurting others because of the amount of melanin in their skin. Unbelievable.
Under investigation, seems like the police screwed up and the career was accidentally shot. Can't imagine why US police as so jumpy at the moment...
The 911 call was to an armed man threatening suicide. Seems all rather confused.
Not so much an investigation, rather a statement given by the police union after they had time to reframe the officer's first response "I don't know" to a carefully crafted explanation trying to paint the officer in a better light.
Personally I find it difficult to swallow that this apparently highly trained officer missed the large target sitting upright and "accidentally" hit the target lying at ground level instead. Then felt the need to cuff the man he shot "accidentally" for twenty minutes while he bleed waiting for medical help.
Nevertheless the police union know when black lives are involved they could come up with a story that had dozens of discrepancies and still find people willing to buy it.
It's very easy to miss with a pistol, look at the incident in Hornsby with the female police office wounding 4 people when confronted by a man with a knife about 3 months ago. She wounded 3 innocent female shoppers, but unlike this case, we didn't have people saying cops are anti women.
Has it been forensically established it was a direct hit on the victim or a ricochet? If it was a ricochet, then you can't say he was targeted at all.
And I'm not sure where you get the officer is highly trained from. Most police go through their whole career never firing in anger and those who do have to make a split second decision.
Look, I agree the guy shouldn't have got shot, I hope he is fully compensated and the appropriate action is taken against the officer based on a reasonable assessment of the situation. But to go straight to some conclusion he was there just to murder a black person is a rather bold assertion.
It was the police union spokesperson, John Rivera, who said the officer is a decorated member of the city's SWAT team. The report from North Miami Police is also that three rounds were shot from an assault rifle, not a pistol.
I never alleged murder. My personal belief is that the police officer acting on the information contained in the 911 call likely profiled the victim and developed a nervous trigger finger. That would better explain in my opinion why he then told the carer that he didn't know why he shot him, and why he cuffed the victim while he lay bleeding waiting for assistance.
This happens regularly to black people in the US. If cops here shot women with the regularity that black people are shot by police in the US we probably would be saying they are profiling women.
I agree with you that there needs to be a reasonable assessment of the situation and compensation paid as appropriate. What I find abhorrent when these shootings happen is the immediate leap to justification, which only seems to inflame racial unrest, rather than allowing time to conduct a proper and unbiased investigation.
Can't imagine why black Americans are jumpy at the moment either......