The Denver Post
Childs family, neighbors pleased, not satisfied
Friday, April 16, 2004 -
Helen Childs allowed herself a contented smile Thursday afternoon on the same shaded front porch from which Denver police officer James Turney shot her son dead.
But only for a moment. She is pleased with the punishment of Turney, she said. She is relieved that the officer's 10- month suspension without pay is more than just a few days. She is grateful that someone in authority has admitted that Turney did something wrong. But make no mistake, she said, this is not what she wants. She still wants Turney fired. She still wishes her son Paul, who was killed by Turney last July, could be standing with her on that porch. "This is a little justice," she said quietly as a crowd of reporters pressed close. "It's a little justice." Among Childs' family and in the North Park Hill neighborhood surrounding the Childs' small brick home, people had a mixed reaction to the punishment. The suspension is better than the 20 days Police Chief Gerry Whitman recommended, some residents said. Punishing Turney is a positive step, most agreed. But many believe Turney should have been fired, or worse. "I feel it's all right," said Ashley Childs, Paul's sister. "But I still feel he should be put in jail. Why does he get treated differently?" Standing in front of his barbershop just a couple of blocks from the Childs house, Steve Williams said he doesn't see the point of the decision. While officials are saying it was wrong of the officer to kill Childs, what good is that if he just gets to come back to work? "That (suspension) says something; that says he's guilty," Williams said of the suspension. "But I don't know what that would do." Across the street at the Horizon Lounge, the afternoon crowd felt much the same. The punishment won't earn back a whole lot of community trust, said Cleo Payne. "I don't think you do the community any good by ignoring this issue," Payne said, sitting on a bar stool and sipping a beer. "I think it's time that someone step forward and make sure these things don't happen again." Not everybody was upset at Turney's not being fired. "I don't think they should fire him, because he has to pay his mortgage," said Dwayne Milligan, who lives in Park Hill. "But he should get a desk job." The Rev. Reginald Holmes, the president of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, applauded city leaders for ordering the suspension and that Turney be limited to desk work upon his return to the force. But the discipline fell short of the year's suspension the Ministerial Alliance wanted. Holmes said the alliance will continue working to make it easier for police to be fired for wrongly shooting somebody. And, he said, the punishment must withstand any appeals. "This does not make anybody feel safer," Holmes said. "It may restore a bit of dignity to the Childs family that 20 days wouldn't. But that's all it does. I think it falls short of giving the community and the Childs family any peace." Helen Childs agreed that she is not yet at peace. She knows this will hardly end her effort to find justice. But it's a start. "It's been the first good day in about a year for the family," said Timothy Rastello, one of Childs' attorneys. Helen Childs smiled. "Yes, it is," she said softly. |