- Charles Kinsey, 46, was shot in North Miami while he was on the ground with his hands up
- Kinsey, a behavioral therapist, was attempting to calm down his 23-year-old autistic patient, who had run away from a group home
- The therapist begs police to not shoot him right before a North Miami officer fires three times, striking his leg
- The object mistaken for a gun was a toy truck
An unarmed Florida therapist was shot by police while trying to calm down his autistic patient, authorities said.
Police in North Miami were responding to a report of a man with what appeared to be a gun when they came across Charles Kinsey and his patient, who had run away from a group home.
'All he has is a toy truck a toy truck,' Kinsey pleads with cops, lying flat on the ground with arms raised, as seen in cell phone footage of the incident. 'I am a behavior therapist at a group home.'
Kinsey tries to get his patient to comply, using soothing words so he remains calm.
'Rinaldo, please be still, Rinaldo,' he is heard saying in video released by WSVN. 'Sit down, Rinaldo. Lay on your stomach.'
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Therapist Charles Kinsey, 46, (left) was shot in North Miami while he was on the ground with his hands up. Throughout the ordeal, he tries to soothe his autistic patient (right), who was playing with a toy truck
Kinsey (right) recounts to a local TV station how cops shot him while on the ground and then cuffed him (left)
The man, 23, sits next to him and yells 'shut up' while playing with his toy truck.
'Don't shoot me,' Kinsey begs.
An officer then fires three times, striking Kinsey in the leg, authorities said.
No weapon was found.
Kinsey is black. Police haven't released the name or race of the officer who shot him.
Kinsey, 47, says the 911 caller must have mistaken a toy that the autistic man had for a gun.
'I'm like this right here, and when he shot me, it was so surprising,' Kinsey told WSVN.
'I thought it was a mosquito bite, and when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I'm thinking I just got shot!
'And I'm saying, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' and his words to me were, 'I don't know.''
Kinsey was taken to a local hospital with bullet wounds to his legs. He is expected to go home later this week