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Florida police shoot autistic man's carer as he lies in street with hands up

 A mobile phone video shows Charles Kinsey asking the police not to shoot him
 A mobile phone video shows Charles Kinsey asking the police not to shoot him  A mobile phone video shows Charles Kinsey asking the police not to shoot him

A FLORIDA police officer shot a therapist who was looking after an autistic man while he was lying in the street with his hands up.

A mobile phone video shows Charles Kinsey asking the police not to shoot him, before he was injured in the incident in Miami.

The 47-year-old, who is black, and works with people with disabilities, was trying to get his 27-year-old patient back to a facility from where he had wandered.

The authorities said the incident happened on Monday, following reports of a man threatening to shoot himself.

North Miami assistant police chief Neal Cuevas told The Miami Herald that officers responded to the scene and ordered Kinsey and the patient, who was sitting in the street playing with a toy truck, to lie on the ground.

He said Kinsey was lying down, and put his hands up while trying to get his patient to comply. An officer then fired three times, striking Kinsey in the leg, Cuevas said. No weapon was found.

Kinsey’s lawyer, Hilton Napoleon, gave the Herald the mobile phone video taken moments before the shooting.

It shows Kinsey lying in the middle of the street on his back with his hands up, asking the officers not to shoot him. His autistic patient sits next to him, yelling at him to “shut up”.

“Sir, there’s no need for firearms,” Kinsey said he told police before he was shot. He said of his injury: “It was so surprising. It was like a mosquito bite.”

Police have not released the name or race of the officer who shot him.