Unarmed Therapist Attempting To Help Autistic Patient Shot By Police

Tensions between the American public and its police officers are set to be inflamed further by new footage of an unarmed black man being shot by Florida police.

Behavioural therapist Charles Kinsey, 47, was shot in his right leg on Monday while attempting to help a patient from the group home in which he works.

The patient, a young autistic man, was obstructing traffic in Miami. Police eventually arrived, having received emergency calls that he was walking around with a gun threatening suicide. (No gun was found on the scene.)

In the video, recorded by a bystander on their mobile phone, Kinsey can be seen on his back with his hands up, informing police that there is no gun: “All he has is a toy truck. A toy truck.”

The camera does not capture the moment in which Kinsey is shot, which occurred shortly afterwards.

According to ABC News, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation into the shooting. Though the officer who fired the gun has not been identified, he has been placed on administrative leave (as is protocol for any officer who discharges their weapon).

Kinsey, thankfully, was not seriously hurt in the encounter, and later described the sensation of being shot to local news as “like a mosquito bite”.

However, the incident follows a recent spate of publicised shootings of black men by police officers, such as that of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile (both captured on phone cameras).

America has seen a wave of largely peaceful #BlackLivesMatter protests across its nation as a result.

Police have also been on the receiving end of violence lately, with five officers slain in Dallas by a lone sniper, and three more killed in Baton Rouge by a former Marine reportedly suffering from PTSD.

More news as it develops.

Photo: Twitter / Phil_Lewis_.