iStock/Thinkstock(MIAMI) — The family of an autistic man, whose caregiver was shot while trying to help him, said he’s “utterly traumatized.”
Arnoldo Rios Soto, 26, had run away from a group home in Miami on Monday when Charles Kinsey, 47, a behavioral therapist went to go help him out of the street. Kinsey was shot in the leg while lying on the ground with his hands up next to Soto.
“It’s just so sad that he couldn’t walk down the street with his caregiver,” Soto’s sister, Miriam Rios, told ABC News.
John Rivera, the president of the Dade County Police Benevolent Association, said this week that the officers on the scene “saw the white male almost on top of Mr. Kinsey, who had his hands up and who had his knees up, and to the officers, it looked like the white male was about to shoot Mr. Kinsey,” Rivera said. “The officers all thought the individual had a firearm.”
The object in Soto’s hand was not a weapon, but a toy truck. Kinsey can be heard on video trying to explain to police who he was, that Soto was holding a toy truck, and that he was a behavioral therapist. Soto was handcuffed by police and kept in a police car for three to four hours, according to a statement from his family.
Officer Jonathan Alleda, who shot Kinsey, was put on paid administrative leave and a second officer is now suspended without pay as officials investigate whether he fabricated part of the police report.
ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
