Cell Phone Footage Shows Latest Police-Involved Shooting Of Black Man
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Cell phone video captured a portion of the verbal exchange between an assisted living facility employee and North Miami Police moments before the man was shot Monday afternoon.
"There is no justification to shoot a man who's laying on his back telling you that he's unarmed," said Hilton Napoleon, who represents Charles Kinsey, the man who was shot by police.
Napoleon is demanding answers after Kinsey is seen on the ground with his hands in the air. Kinsey says the man sitting next to him on the ground with a white toy truck in his hand is an autistic man Kinsey cares for at a group home nearby. As Kinsey tried to explain that to police, he also tried to calm down the autistic patient but an officer opened fire, striking Kinsey.
A group of men who work together to perform acts of community service and crime prevention are also demanding answers. The group, Circle of Brotherhood, which Kinsey is also a member of, gathered Wednesday evening in front of the police department's headquarters to raise concerns about the shooting.
"We found out bits and pieces and we're still finding things out. So we'd just like to go see him," said Circle of Brotherhood member Lyle Muhammad, as members visited Kinsey at Jackson Memorial Hospital where Kinsey is recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg.
On Monday, officers were sent to NE 128th Street and 14th Avenue after someone called to report a man with a gun threatening suicide, according to a statement by North Miami Police.
"To our understanding is, is the individual, who lives here, was walking down the street with a toy in his hand and somebody called the police, saying somebody had a weapon," said Clint Bower, president of the nearby Miami Achievement Center for the Developmentally Disabled, where Kinsey works as a caregiver.
Bower says the man who lives at the group home was autistic. "He happens to be 24 years old," said Bower. "He's autistic, non-verbal so the police couldn't get anything out of him because he can't speak."
Police said sometime during the on-scene negotiations, an officer discharged his weapon, striking Kinsey in the leg. He was taken to the hospital.
The Circle of Brotherhood said the North Miami Police Department is just the latest law enforcement agency, in a string of national events, to be called to task for the shooting of an unarmed black man. They want answers and the officer who shot Kinsey to be held accountable for criminal negligence.
