Therapist says hands raised when shot
Caretaker says he was helping autisticman when police fired
NORTH MIAMI, Fla. —A black therapist who was trying to calm an autistic man in the middle of the street says he was shot by police even though he had his hands in the air and repeatedly told them that no one was armed.
The moments before the shooting were recorded on cellphone video and show Charles Kinsey lying on the ground with his arms raised, talking to his patient and police throughout the standoff with officers, who appeared to have them surrounded.
“As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me. This is what I’m thinking. They’re not going to shoot me,” he told WSVN-TV from his hospital bed, where he was recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg. “Wow, was I wrong.”
At a news conference Thursday, North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene said the investigation had been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the local state attorney.
“I realize there are many questions about what happened on Monday night. You have questions, the community has questions, we as a city, we as a member of this police department and I also have questions,” he said.
The chief said officers responded after getting a 911 call about a man with a gun threatening to kill himself, and the officers arrived “with that threat in mind” — but no gun was recovered.
The video does not show the shooting. Kinsey’s attorney, Hilton Napoleon II, said there was about a twominute gap in which the person who shot the video had switched off, thinking nothing more would happen. It then briefly shows the aftermath of the shooting. He would not say who gave him the video.
Kinsey, 47, said he was trying to coax his 27-yearold patient back to a nearby facility that he had wandered from.
Police ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.
“Lay down on your stomach,” Kinsey says to his patient in the video, which was shot from about 30 feet away and provided to the Miami Herald. “Shut up!” responds the patient, who is sitting cross-legged in the road.
Kinsey said he was more worried about his patient than himself.
“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,” Kinsey said. An officer later fired three times, striking Kinsey in the leg, assistant police chief Neal Cuevas told the newspaper.
After the shooting, Kinsey said he asked an officer why he was shot and the officer said “‘I don’t know.’ ” Napoleon said officers handcuffed Kinsey and left him lying in the street on his stomach for 20 minutes without rendering first aid.