But police were not taking any chances because Kinsey’s companion, a 24-year-old autistic man, was holding a toy truck, which they feared could be a gun.
It was a tense 15 minutes as Kinsey lay on his back, his hands in the air, yelling at the officers that the toy truck was not a gun. Telling them that the man holding the toy truck was developmentally disabled. And informing them that he was the man’s caretaker.
But police have been on edge after the recent shootings in Baton Rouge and Dallas, so one of them fired several times anyway from behind the safety of his vehicle.
It might not make sense but this is what they call “officer safety.” The notion that any potential threat be disabled to prevent the officer from being harmed. Even if that potential threat is already reaching for the sky.
It wasn’t enough that several cops had their guns trained on Kinsey and the autistic man, who was mindlessly playing with his toy truck while sitting cross-legged in the street, oblivious to the danger he was in.
They had to shoot Kinsey in the leg, which gave them the opportunity to step from behind their cars and rush the two men, allowing them to place handcuffs on them.
Once the situation was secure, Kinsey asked the officer why he had shot him.
“I don’t know,” responded the officer, whose name has not been released.
It’s tough to explain officer safety to mere mortals like Kinsey, who had to be transported to a hospital, but at least the officer was able to make it home to his family.
And that, as we are told daily, is what really matters.
However, Kinsey has retained an attorney and the story is now going viral. And a video recorded from the scene has been released by his attorney, Hilton Napoleon.
But the video does not contain the actual shooting, so perhaps it was edited by either CBS4 or Napoleon. Or perhaps whoever recorded it just missed that part.
The incident took place Monday afternoon after North Miami police say they were responding to a 911 call about a suicidal man with a gun, which prompted them to respond with AR-15 type rifles.
But there was no man with a gun. It was just the autistic man with his toy truck who had slipped out of his group home and sat himself down in the middle of the street.
Kinsey, 47, works at the home, caring for the autistic man and other developmentally disabled adults, so he sat next to him to coax him back into the home.
That was when police showed up, pointing their weapons, ordering them to lay on the street with their hands in the air.
Kinsey did as he was told, but the autistic man was not comprehending the situation, so he continued playing with his toy truck, striking fear in the hearts of the officers.
After all, they’ve been on edge with the recent shootings.
Kinsey tried to explain that nobody was armed, but police ordered them to lay on the ground, attempting to negotiate. Yes, that is the term they used. Negotiate.
Fifteen minutes into the negotiations, the officer shot Kinsey in the leg, allowing them to rush in and handcuff the two men before any of them could harm the officers.
Kinsey was left laying in the street while the autistic man was forced into the back of a patrol car for two-and-a-half hours, his toy truck stripped away from him. All in the name of officer safety.
UPDATE: Turns out, the cop was trying to kill the autistic man to protect the caretaker from the toy truck.
