A Florida man is in disbelief after North Miami police shot him while he lay on the pavement with both hands in the air.
Caregiver Charles Kinsey, 47, was outdoors with an autistic patient Monday when two police officers showed up responding to reports of an armed, suicidal man.
New video shows moments before @NorthMiamiPD shot unarmed man with hands in air: https://t.co/YbXRNBaDVR @BrianEntin https://t.co/UKHHIYd00z
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) July 20, 2016
Footage released Wednesday shows Kinsey on the ground, hands raised and attempting to explain to officers the item they perceived to be a weapon was in actuality a toy truck.
“All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck. I’m a behavior therapist at a group home,” Kinsey tells officers, who at that point had guns drawn.
“I’m going to the ground, just like this with my hands up. And I’m laying down here just like this. And I’m telling him again, ‘Sir, there’s no need for firearms. I’m unarmed, this is an autistic guy. He has a toy truck in his hand.’”
Despite his efforts, one officer fired off a round which struck Kinsey in the leg.
Kinsey says officers at that point did not administer medical treatment, but instead handcuffed him – with three sets of handcuffs – at the scene.
“They flipped me over, and I’m faced down in the ground, with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come,” Kinsey told WSVN. “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 also got an opportunity to ask the officer why he shot him.
“When he shot me, it was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite. And when he hit me, I’m like, I still got my hands in the air. I said, ‘You know, I just got shot.’ And I’m saying to them, ‘Sir, why did you shoot me?’ And his words to me, he said, ‘I don’t know.’”
The North Miami Police Department has placed the officer involved on administrative leave and the Florida state attorney is also looking into the case.
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