As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me, is what I was thinking. Wow, was I wrong.’

By Nika Knight, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-21-2016

“All he has is a truck. A toy truck. I’m a behavior therapist at a group home,” Charles Kinsey pleaded with officers, holding his arms in the air and trying to help an autistic patient before he was shot. (Screenshot)

Charles Kinsey, a black man and caregiver at a group home, was shot by police on Monday in North Miami, Florida.

Cell phone video footage released late Wednesday showed that Kinsey was lying on the ground, holding his arms in the air to show he was unarmed, and trying to help a distressed autistic patient in the moments before he was shot in the leg.

“As long as I’ve got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me, is what I was thinking. Wow, was I wrong,”said Kinsey to local TV station WSVN from a hospital bed on Thursday. Continue reading →