MIAMI _ Former North Miami Police officer Jonathon Aledda avoided a prison sentence Wednesday in the 2016 shooting of an unarmed black man caring for an autistic man with a toy truck police said resembled a gun.
Aledda, who was fired Tuesday, was sentenced to one year of administrative probation, 100 hours of community service and must write a 2,500-word essay on communication and weapon discharges.
Judge Alan S. Fine also ruled to withhold adjudication in the case, meaning Aledda's conviction will not appear on his criminal record.
The first trial ended in a hung jury when jurors failed to reach a decision on one misdemeanor count of culpable negligence and two felony counts of attempted manslaughter.
Aledda celebrated the ruling with his former colleagues and his family, who flanked him inside the Miami courtroom. He smiled and hugged his supporters, some of whom became emotional.
"The people of Dade County should be proud of Jonathon and proud of this judge," said Aledda defense attorney Jay Kolsky. "I thought that it was a well thought out decision by this judge, who heard both cases fully and knew the evidence and knew the facts very well."
Last month, a jury convicted Aledda, 33, of misdemeanor culpable negligence for his role in the nonfatal shooting of Charles Kinsey, a behavorial therapist on July 18, 2016. The jury acquited him of two felony counts of attempted manslaughter.
Aledda was responding to a call of a man attempting suicide with a gun. That turned out to be false. What police found was Arnaldo Rios Soto, a then-26-year-old, sitting in the street with a silver toy truck. He had walked out of his group home in North Miami, and Kinsey followed him.
Kinsey, who was recorded by cellphone footage lying on the road with his arms up, attempted to tell police Rios Soto was not a threat. Aledda did not hear him, and fired three rifle rounds in Rios Soto's direction, striking Kinsey in his leg.
Aledda had never fired his weapon in the line of duty before and was a first-time offender with no arrest record.
He is the first officer in Miami-Dade County to be criminally charged for an on-duty shooting since 1989.
Steadman Stahl, the president of the Miami-Dade County Police Benevolent Association, said Aledda should not have been fired from his job and that the PBA would petition for the termination to be reviewed.
"I think there was a rush to judgment," he said.
