Official: Officer shot wrong man

Miami Herald (TNS)

NORTH MIAMI, Fla.

The North Miami police officer who shot an unarmed, black mental-health worker caring for a patient actually took aim at the autistic man next to him, but missed, the head of the police union said Thursday.

It was a stunning admission from the police officer and from John Rivera, who heads Miami-Dade’s Police Benevolent Association. But it was one meant to calm the fears of a nation besieged with cellphone videos of police shootings and sometimes killing unarmed black men.

In this case, Rivera said, the officer ended up wounding the man he was trying to save. “I couldn’t allow this to continue for the community’s sake,” Rivera said Thursday. “Folks, this is not what the rest of the nation is going through.”

North Miami police and investigators have been tight-lipped since the Monday shooting, even as video of most of the encounter has been released. The story gained international attention, and public pressure for answers mounted.

Rivera called the officer who shot Charles Kinsey “decorated” and said he was a member of the city’s SWAT team. The name of the autistic man hasn’t been released. He appears to be a white Hispanic on the video.

On Monday, a North Miami police officer shot Kinsey, 47, after, police said, the officer mistakenly believed that Kinsey was going to be killed by the 23-year-old autistic man playing with a toy truck who was sitting on the ground next to him. Rivera said the officer feared the autistic man had a weapon.