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North Miami police shoot black man who said his hands were raised while he tried to help other man with autism
By Francisco Alvarado, Michael E. Miller and Mark Berman July 21 at 7:56 PM
Video shows moments before unarmed therapist was shot by North Miami police
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Charles Kinsey was trying to calm down an autistic patient who had run away from his North Miami assisted living facility when police arrived. A bystander filmed their interactions on July 18, before Kinsey was shot. (Courtesy Hilton Napoleon)

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. — Authorities said Thursday that they were investigating a shooting earlier this week in which a police officer shot a man who had said his hands were empty and raised at the time.

While the shooting was not captured on camera, a recording showing moments before the gunshots depicted a man was lying on his back on the ground, his hands in the air, while another man sits near him cross-legged.

“All he has is a toy truck in his hand,” Charles Kinsey, the man lying on his back, yells at two police officers standing behind telephone poles just a few dozen feet away on Northeast 14th Avenue. “That’s all it is. There is no need for guns.”

Police said they only learned later that Kinsey worked at an assisted care facility and that the man sitting near him was autistic.

After the recording stopped, one of the officers fired three shots, hitting Kinsey at least once in his leg.

[The Post’s police shootings database]

“When it hit me, I’m like, I still got my hands in the air,” Kinsey, a black man, said in an interview from his hospital bed with WSVN.

Police have not said why the officer fired, though a police union representative said Thursday that the officer, who has not been identified and who has been placed on administrative leave, was aiming for the man with autism — apparently thinking he was armed — and trying to protect Kinsey.

In moments recorded during the encounter Monday, Kinsey can be heard trying to calm the man with autism sitting next to him. This man, who was also not identified, had apparently wandered away from a group home where Kinsey said he works as a behavioral therapist. ... "

Burning Petard wrote: Police dog deaths are also listed. Their biggest killer is heat exhaustion.