US police shoot black care-home worker as he lies in the street with hands up
A Florida police officer shot a therapist in the leg who was looking after a man with autism while he was lying in the street with his hands up.
A mobile phone video shows Charles Kinsey asking the police not to shoot him, during the incident in Miami.
Unarmed Charles Kinsey, a therapist attempting to help a distressed patient, just before he is shot by Miami police: https://t.co/Umluw5tCXf
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 21, 2016
The 47-year-old, who is black, and works with people with disabilities, was trying to get his 27-year-old patient back to a facility from where he had wandered.
The authorities said the incident happened on Monday, following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.
North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to the scene and ordered Mr Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.
He said Mr Kinsey was lying down, and put his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply.
An officer then fired three times, striking Mr Kinsey in the leg, Mr Cuevas said. No weapon was found.
Mr Kinsey's lawyer, Hilton Napoleon, gave the Herald the mobile phone video taken moments before the shooting.
It shows Mr Kinsey lying in the middle of the street with his hands up, asking the officers not to shoot him, while the man with autism sits next to him, yelling at him to "shut up".
"Sir, there's no need for firearms," Mr Kinsey said he told police before he was shot.
"It was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite."
Police have not released the name or race of the officer who shot him.
