Police shoot autistic man’s carer as he lies in street

MIAMI — Authorities say a Florida police officer shot and wounded an autistic man’s black caretaker in an incident purportedly captured on cellphone video that shows the caretaker lying down with his arms raised before being shot.

North Miami Assistant Police Chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to the scene on Monday (July 18) following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself. Officers arrived to find 47-year-old Mr Charles Kinsey, a therapist who works with disabilities, according to WSVN-TV, trying to get his 27-year-old patient back to a facility from where he’d wandered.

Mr Cuevas says police ordered Mr Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground. Mr Kinsey lies down and puts his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply. Mr Cuevas says an officer then fired three times, striking Kinsey in the leg. No weapon was found. AP