American cop shoots therapist trying to calm down autistic patient

21 July 2016 - 18:01 By Bruce Gorton
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Charles Kinsey was lying on the ground with his hands in the air trying to calm down an autistic patient – when a Miami police officer shot him.

Image: Gallo Images/ IStock

Video posted to YouTube by Tania Francois

Fortunately Kinsey was only shot in the leg, and according to 7 News Miami the unarmed therapist is happy to be alive.

Kinsey told the news channel that he told the cops there was no need for firearms, and that his patient was holding a toy truck.

He likened the feeling of getting shot to a mosquito bite, saying he was surprised that the officer fired when he clearly wasn’t threatening anybody.

According to Heavy.com, the police issued a statement about the shooting, saying they had been called out over an armed man threatening suicide.

“Arriving officers attempted to negotiate with two men on the scene, one of whom was later identified as suffering from autism. The other man was later identified as an employee of an assisted living facility. At some point during the on-scene negotiation, one of the responding officers discharged his weapon, striking the employee,” the police said in their statement.

The North Miami Herald reports that there was no weapon of any type found at the scene, and that the police have not yet released their paper-work or the name of the offending officer.

Kinsey is due to be released from hospital on Thursday.

According to The Guardian, in June 2016, American police killed 97 people.

According to the UK’s IPCC, there was only one fatal police shooting in the UK in the 2014/2015 year, and it was the first such shooting since 2011/2012.

US police violence has been a hot topic this year, particularly after the killing of Philando Castile, who was following police instructions and reaching for his ID in the Minnesota town of Falcon Heights.

The officer fatally shot him. His girlfriend streamed the event.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT


Video posted to YouTube by CNN

Then protests over this and other killings turned deadly in Dallas when Micah Johnson shot and killed five police officers. Nine others were injured, along with two bystanders.


Video posted to YouTube by Associated Press

According to the police chief, Johnson wanted to kill more.

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