| Shooting of Charles Kinsey | |
|---|---|
 Cellphone video footage, showing mental health therapist Charles Kinsey lying on the ground with his arms raised in North Miami, Florida, before being shot by police officer Jonathan Aledda. Kinsey's autistic patient is seated beside him. | |
| Location | Northeast 127th Street and 14th Avenue, North Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 25.892661, -80.170422 |
| Date | July 18, 2016 5:45 p.m. (EST) |
Attack type | Police shooting |
| Injured | Charles Kinsey - right leg |
| Victim | Charles Kinsey |
| Perpetrator | Jonathan Aledda (officer of the North Miami Police Department) |
| Verdict | First trial:
Second trial:
|
| Convictions | Culpable negligence (overturned in 2022) |
| Charges |
|
| Sentence | 1 year probation (reduced to 5 months) and 100 hours' community service |
| Litigation | Kinsey filed federal lawsuit against SWAT officer and city, settled in 2019 for an undisclosed amount |
On July 18, 2016, Charles Kinsey, a behavior therapist, was shot in the leg by a police officer in North Miami, Florida. Kinsey had been retrieving his 27-year-old autistic patient, Arnaldo Rios Soto, who had run away from his group home. Police encountered the pair while they were searching for an armed suicidal man. Kinsey was lying on the ground with his hands in the air, and trying to negotiate between officers and his patient, when he was shot. The officer who shot Kinsey said he had been aiming at the patient, who the officer believed was threatening Kinsey with a gun. Both Kinsey and his patient were unarmed.
Following the shooting, Kinsey said he was handcuffed and left bleeding on the ground for 20 minutes without police giving him medical aid. The incident received significant media attention following the appearance of cellphone video footage. The officer who shot Kinsey, Jonathan Aledda, was arrested in 2017, and charged with attempted manslaughter and negligence. In June 2019, Aledda was found guilty by a jury of culpable negligence. One day after being found guilty, Aledda was also fired from the police force. He was sentenced to probation and required to write a 2,500 word essay on policing. He ultimately completed a total of five months of probation and no prison time. After Aledda was found guilty, Kinsey and the City of North Miami reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in a federal lawsuit Kinsey had filed. In February 2022, Aledda's conviction was overturned.