On the afternoon of July 18th, 2016, developmentally disabled man Arnaldo Rios-Soto wandered away from his group home in North Miami. Rios-Soto was playing with a toy truck in the middle of the street when his beloved caretaker, a black man named Charles Kinsey, approached him to attempt to convince him to return home.
Miami Police state responded to a 911 call “indicating a man was in the street with a gun threatening to kill himself” which was actually Rios-Soto blocking the roadway and holding “small, rectangular white toy”. As police surrounded the two men, Kinsey attempted to explain “All he has is a toy truck. … I am a behavior tech at a group home. There’s no need for guns.”
Regardless of Kinsey’s plea, officers shot the caretaker in his leg. A video was subsequently released of the shooting and highly publicized. The video, recorded before the officer fired his weapon, shows “Kinsey on his back with his hands in the air telling police he didn’t have a weapon and asking them not to fire.” The police later contended the bullet was meant for Rios-Soto, because he had failed to respond to police.
Rios-Soto still continues to show symptoms of stress and trauma due to the incident. As a result, his mother Gladys Soto is now seeking “compensatory damages on claims of battery, assault, false arrest, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and violation of civil rights, the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act and the Fair Housing Act.”
The lawsuit claims “NORTH MIAMI used unnecessary, and potentially deadly, the force on persons with disabilities and knowingly imprison persons who lack any semblance of competence to be tried”. Gladys Soto insists that her son’s human rights were violated as a result of improper training of police regarding mentally disabled persons.
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