North Miami Officer Sentenced To Probation For 2016 Shooting

NORTH MIAMI, FL — A North Miami Police officer, who was found guilty of culpable negligence in connection with the July 2016 shooting of behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey, was sentenced Wednesday to one year probation.

Officer Jonathan Aledda was also ordered to write a 2,500 word essay on the developmentally disabled and perform 100 hours of community service.

"I felt terrible for Mr. Kinsey for the injury that I caused," Aledda told a Miami-Dade County judge during the sentencing.

Aledda was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge by a jury but was found not guilty of the more serious felony offenses of attempted manslaughter.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has said the community was "traumatized" by the shooting. Aledda was retried for the incident after a jury failed to return a verdict in an earlier proceeding on three of four charges.

"On June 18, 2019, a jury decided that the shooting of mental health therapist Charles Kinsey
was not an error or an accident but a crime, and the jury convicted Officer Aledda of
Culpable Negligence," said Fernandez Rundle in a statement released after Wednesday's sentencing.

Aledda and other North Miami officers were dispatched when a patient requiring 24-hour, one-on-one supervision left the Miami Achievement Center for the Developmentally Disabled with a silver toy tanker truck in hand.

"Protecting all the residents of Miami-Dade is a duty assumed by every police officer every
day," Fernandez Rundle said. "Policing can be a very dangerous job. However, this case indicates our community’s belief that, on a daily basis, thought and attention should be a part of every action undertaken.”

Kinsey, the patient's behavioral therapist, was attempting to get him back into the facility when he was shot by mistake. The initial 9-1-1 report described the patient as possibly suicidal with a silver weapon in his hand.

Aledda insisted that he fired three shots from his Colt M4 Carbine rifle because he mistook the shiny toy truck for a handgun.

Prosecutors argued that Officer Aledda was not in a position to correctly assess the situation or in a position to accurately fire from 152 feet away.

Following his conviction, the North Miami Police Department announced that it would initiate termination proceedings against Aledda.

The officer was arrested following a joint investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.

Under the terms of the sentence, Aledda will not have to report to a probation officer. The community service order carries a recommendation that the service involve the developmentally disabled. The essay must also focus on how police need to assess a situation upon arriving on the scene.