Miami Officer Charged With Shooting Unarmed Caretaker Of Autistic Man

We thought we would update you on this case, one of many cases of police involved shootings last year which elicited national outcry and demands for policing reform across the United States.
Courtesy of our friends at the nydai​lynews​.com

A Miami police offi­cer accused of shoot­ing an unarmed black ther­a­pist who had his hands above his head last sum­mer will face crim­i­nal charges.

North Miami Police Officer Jonathan Aledda has been charged with attempt­ed manslaugh­ter and cul­pa­ble neg­li­gence Wednesday in the shoot­ing of 47-year-old Charles Kinsey, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said in a state­ment.

Kinsey filed a fed­er­al law­suit against Aledda after the July 18 shoot­ing, claim­ing the trained SWAT offi­cer used exces­sive force and had car­ried out a false arrest. Cellphone video showed the South Florida ther­a­pist try­ing to calm his autis­tic patient, Arnold Rios, who had wan­dered away from a group home and was car­ry­ing a toy truck.

Police offi­cers, includ­ing Aledda, arrived at the scene after a 911 caller report­ed some­one sui­ci­dal who was pos­si­bly armed. “I’m going to the ground, just like this with my hands up. And I’m lay­ing down here just like this. And I’m telling him again, ‘Sir, there’s no need for firearms. I’m unarmed, this is an autis­tic guy. He has a toy truck in his hand,’” Kinsey told WSVN at the time.

Aledda was 150 feet away when he fired three times, strik­ing Kinsey in the leg. Rios was not injured. The officer’s police union said Aledda was try­ing to shoot Rios because he thought he posed a threat to Kinsey.
Aledda was placed on admin­is­tra­tive leave fol­low­ing the shoot­ing, but angry pro­test­ers were call­ing for his firing.