44 SHARES Share Tweet

North Miami officer who shot Charles Kinsey in 2016 while working as a caretaker of man with autism goes to trial

In 2016 a North Miami cop shot Charles Kinsey was shot in his leg. The officer Jonathan Aledda, 32, shot Kinsey while he tried to protect his client autistic Arnaldo Rios.

“I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to expect,” Kinsey told the Miami Herald. “I still ask myself ‘Why?’ Why did this have to happen? Why me? I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

“In the last month, it’s really bothered me. I guess, maybe, because the case is coming up. I’m going in with an open mind and hoping for the best” Kinsey added.

Aledda will be the first officer tried in Miami-Dade County for an on-duty shooting since 1989. According to the Miami Herald, no officer has been convicted in state court for an on-duty shooting since Miami officer William Lozano in 1989. William was convicted but later had it overturned on appeal and was acquitted.

Kinsey was shot in July 2016, during a time where there were several national stories of unarmed Black people being shot by police.

At the time of the incident, Kinsey was working at Mactown, a group home in North Miami, with 26-year-old Rios, who had wandered away. Rios sat down in the middle of the street and was holding a silver toy truck, which a neighbor mistook for a possible gun and called 911.

North Miami police arrived on the scene and surrounded them the two men. Kinsey lay on his back, his hands in the air, begging officers not to shoot. It was captured on a bystander video that went viral.

The confrontation concluded in Aledda firing three shots at Rios from his M4 carbine without a scope, hitting Kinsey in the thigh. Rios was not struck.

The newspaper reported months after investigation:

Miami-Dade prosecutors concluded that Aledda was not justified in shooting from more than 150 feet away. Among the reasons: Other officers had already radioed out that Rios did not have a weapon, and two cops within 20 feet did not fear for their lives.

Aledda is being charged with two counts of felony attempted manslaughter, and two counts of culpable negligence. However, his attorneys have long insisted that he acted in defense of others in what he perceived to be a life-threatening situation. The trial is an important case that will be watched closely as it unfolds.

Read more:

Queen Latifah plans to bring new housing project worth $14M to Newark

Eight Ole Miss Basketball Players Kneel During National Anthem vs. Georgia

Copyright ©2019 The Black Detour All Rights Reserved.