Unarmed man helping autistic patient shot by Miami police

Mobile footage has shown caregiver Charles Kinsey shot by police in Miami, Florida, while lying on the ground with his arms raised. He was with an autistic man in his care, and both were unarmed.

Police were responding to a call that a man with a gun in the area was threatening suicide. Kinsey, who works at a facility for people with disabilities, was trying to get his patient back after he had wandered off. In the video, Kinsey – who survives – shouts to officers that the man in his care is holding a toy truck, and that they were both unarmed.

Kinsey lay on his back with his hands up, and pleaded with the second man to lie on the ground too. He was then shot three times by an officer.

“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!” Kinsey later told WSVN. “And I’m saying, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ and his words to me were, ‘I don’t know.’”

In a statement, North Miami police said: “Arriving officers attempted to negotiate with two men on the scene, one of whom was later identified as suffering from autism. At some point during the on-scene negotiation, one of the responding officers discharged his weapon, striking the employee.”

According to WPLG, police said they believed the autistic man “had something in his hand”. After Kinsey was shot, he was put into handcuffs by officers on the scene.

North Miami Police have not released the name of the officer who fired the shots, but have related that he is on administrative leave. It is unknown whether the officer will face charges.