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US: Black man 'shot by
police' while helping patient
Video emerges showing moments before
Charles Kinsey was shot by Florida police as he
lay in a street helping a patient.
Charles Kinsey says his hands were up when police officers
shot him on Monday [Screenshot of YouTube video]
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A black therapist in the US state of Florida trying to calm a
man with autism in the middle of the street says he was shot
by police, even though he had his hands in the air and
repeatedly told them that both were unarmed.
The moments before the shooting on Monday were recorded
on cellphone video, showing Charles Kinsey lying on the
ground with his arms raised, talking to his patient and police
throughout the standoff with officers, who appeared to have
them surrounded.
"As long as I've got my hands up, they're not going to shoot
me. This is what I'm thinking. They're not going to shoot me,"
he told WSVN-TV later from his hospital bed, where he was
recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg.
"Wow, was I wrong."
The shooting comes at a time of growing tensions and
increased protests against the disproportionate number of
African Americans killed by the police.
North Miami Police Chief Gary Eugene said on Thursday he
had asked Florida state officials to lead the investigation into
the shooting.
US: Black Lives Matter protests continue
Eugene said officers responded to a 911 emergency call
about an armed man threatening suicide, but the chief told
reporters no gun was recovered at the scene.
Kinsey said he was trying to calm his 23-year-old patient who
had run away from the group home where he works.
"All he has is a toy truck in his hand," Kinsey can be heard
saying in the video, speaking of his patient, who was holding
a toy. "That's all it is. There is no need for guns."
Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher, reporting from North Miami, said:
"The video at that point goes black, but we are told that a
police officer fired three rounds towards Kinsey, one of them
striking him in his leg.
Gallacher said the incident came "at a very sensitive time" in
the US.
"We had recently two officer-involved shootings of African
American men, and eight officers targeted by other gunmen
who allegedly were going ofter them in response to those
shootings."
Black Lives Matter protests
Baton Rouge, in the US state of Louisiana, recently became
the scene of large protests against police brutality after
officers shot dead 37-year-old Alton Sterling on July 5 outside
a supermarket, claiming he had a gun.
The father of five had been selling CDs.
Footage of the moment Sterling was killed was also captured
on a mobile phone and circulated online, sparking outrage and
then protests.
Sterling's killing was followed the next day with another police
shooting. An officer killed a 32-year-old black man, Philando
Castile, at a traffic stop in the midwestern US state of
Minnesota. The aftermath of the shooting was also captured
on video and streamed live by Castile's girlfriend on
Facebook.
The deaths sparked outrage and protests in many cities
across the US.
Just days later, five white police officers were shot dead at
one such protest in Dallas, Texas.
Police identified Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, as the suspect
and said he had set out to kill white people. Police shot and
killed Johnson after the incident.
The Black Lives Matter movement - which campaigns against
police killings of African Americans - disavowed the killing of
the officers and said in a statement it stands for "dignity,
justice and respect".
The Guardian has documented at least 598 people killed by
police across the US so far this year. From that total, 148 -
nearly 25 percent - were Black, although African Americans
constitute only around 13 percent of the country's total
population.
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