A man who was injured in a police-involved shooting in North Miami remained hospitalized Tuesday, while his attorney spoke out to give new details on what led to the shooting.
Charles Kinsey is recovering from a gunshot to the leg fired by a North Miami Police officer Monday near Northeast 14th Avenue and Northeast 127th Street.
Police said officers responded to the scene after they received a 911 call of an armed man threatening suicide. Officers tried to "negotiate" with the two men and at one point, an officer fired, police said in a statement.
"Nobody patted him down from my understanding, nobody checked to see if he was armed or the other individual was armed, they just had them laying on the ground for a period of time and then the shot went off and hit him in the leg," said Kinsey's attorney, Hilton Napoleon.
Kinsey is an orderly at a nearby assisted living facility for mentally disabled adults. He says one of the home's residents, a severely autistic young man, walked out. Kinsey found him holding a toy truck, sitting on the pavement.
Napoleon said Kinsey explained the situation to police.
"He said 'listen, there's no need for that, I'm a mental health professional, this individual has mental health problems and nobody's armed,'" Napoleon said.
Police said the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave, per department policy. The shooting remains under investigation with the assistance of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.
Napoleon things the Dallas and Baton Rouge incidents have left police on edge, and that may have led to an accidental shooting in the case of Kinsey.
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"I can't say that it did in this case specifically, but it leads you to wonder that had those things not happened, had the police not been ambushed in those parts and had they not been on heightened alert, would they have come out with assault rifles and accidentally, I don't know if it was intentional or accidental, shot an individual who's laying on the ground with his hands up," Napoleon said. "He was on the ground, he was laying on the ground with his hands up and he got shot in the leg."
Napoleon says if police believed Kinsey was a threat, he would have been shot in the chest or head. The fact that he was shot in the leg shows this was an accidental shooting, Napoleon said.
Police haven't confirmed those details of the shooting but said they're looking for witnesses and anyone who may have photos or video of the incident, to call them at 305-891-0294.
