Activists Demand Answers In Latest Police-Involved Shooting Of Black Man
July 20, 2016 6:33 PMBy Oralia Ortega
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A group of men who work together to perform acts of community service and crime prevention are demanding answers after one of their members was shot by police.
Activists Demand Answers In Latest Police-Involved Shooting Of Black Man
This photo is believed to show the moments officers were involved in a confrontation with Charles Kinsey. (Source: CBS4 News Viewer)
The group, Circle of Brotherhood, plans to gather Wednesday evening in front of the police department’s headquarters to raise concerns about the shooting of Charles Kinsey while he was working with an autistic client.
“We found out bits and pieces and we’re still finding things out,” said friend Lyle Muhammad. “So we’d just like to go see him.”
Miami Children's Initiative
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. 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.
