A black man said the police in North Miami, Fla., shot him on Monday as he tried to help a patient with autism who had run away from the group home where he works.

The man, Charles Kinsey, 47, who identified himself as a caretaker of the patient, was on a city street with the patient when officers arrived, a lawyer for Mr. Kinsey said. When the officers drew their weapons, Mr. Kinsey told them there was no need for firearms, lay down in the middle of the street and tried to explain what had happened, the lawyer said.

The video shows him trying to calm the patient, urging him to sit and to lie down.

“All he has is a toy truck — a toy truck,” Mr. Kinsey said, according to video obtained by the Miami television station WSVN. “I am a behavior therapist at a group home,” he added.