After a police-involved shooting, community leaders meet to discuss city’s response

About three months after the police-involved shooting of behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey put North Miami into a storm of media attention, the city has organized a second meeting with local leaders and the community to discuss the city’s response and to give updates on initiatives proposed after the incident.

The community council meeting will start 6 p.m. Thursday at the Joe Celestin Center, 1525 NW 135th St. City Manager Larry Spring said that many of the leaders from groups like Autism Speaks, the Circle of Brotherhood and the Haitian Women of Miami will attend along with additional members of clergy and leaders from local LGBT groups.

“We’ll go over what we’ve done thus far relative to that first conversation,” Spring said.

That first meeting took place July 27 a little more than a week after North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda shot Kinsey as he attempted to tend to and treat his autistic patient, 26-year-old Arnaldo Eliud Rios Soto, in the middle of a city street. The community council members said they hoped to see more accountability for police officers who commit crimes and more communication between the public and the police.

“The eyes of the world are looking to see if we get it right,” Lyle Muhammad, a Circle of Brotherhood member, said at the July 27 meeting.

The city has conducted additional crisis intervention training for officers and has also worked with the Coral Gables police department on dealing with people on the autism spectrum. Money has also been budgeted for the potential purchase of police body cameras.

“I want to make sure we continue to engage and get feedback,” Spring said.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 1:07 PM with the headline "After a police-involved shooting, community leaders meet to discuss city’s response."