MIAMI (WSVN) - A North Miami Police Officer took the stand in his own defense in a trial where he has been accused of shooting an unarmed therapist.
Officer Jonathan Aledda, who has been relieved of duty with pay, described on Wednesday what he saw before opening fire at a therapist and the man with autism he was caring for in July 2016.
“Were you surprised when you got out there and he was injured?” asked the defense attorney.
“I was devastated,” said Aledda.
“Why?” asked the defense attorney.
“I was trying to do everything in my power to help him,” said Aledda.
Aledda got emotional while taking the stand. He faces attempted manslaughter and culpable negligence charges.
“I fired off my shot. As I was doing it, obviously, like, my heart was pounding out of my chest,” said Aledda while demonstrating what happened that day.
Behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey was next to his patient, Arnaldo Rios-Soto, who has autism, on the day of the incident.
Rios-Soto had a toy truck in his hand, which Aledda mistook for a gun.
Aledda testified that he thought he was responding to a hostage situation.
“So he’s pointing it at Crespo like this, moving around, and as I’m lining up my shot, he then turns it and points it back towards the black male like he did before with the item still up,” said Aledda, “so at that point, I just had to find my shot. I thought the black male was going to get executed in front of me.”
Aledda fired towards the men three times and testified that he was aiming for Rios-Soto.
However, Kinsey was struck in the leg instead.
The prosecution grilled Aledda on what his intentions were on the day of the shooting.
“Tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury the truth. You were trying to kill the Caucasian male. That’s true, isn’t it?” asked the prosecutor.
“I was trying to eliminate the threat,” said Aledda in response.
The defense has argued that the situation was chaotic and that Aledda was just trying to protect other officers on the scene.
Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that Aledda wasn’t justified in the shooting because the officers closest to Kinsey were not in fear for their lives and other officers said over the radio that it wasn’t a gun in Rios-Soto’s hands.
However, Aledda claims he never heard that.
“He got on his radio, and he dispatched to everyone that in fact what this man was screaming was, ‘It’s a toy. It’s a toy,’ right?” asked the prosecutor.
“I never heard that, sir,” said Aledda.
The defense rested with this testimony, and the trial will continue Thursday.
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