The Denver Posteditorial
Childs settlement makes sense
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 -
The $1.3 million wrongful-death settlement the city of Denver reached with the family of Paul Childs, the mentally disabled teen shot to death by a Denver cop last July, is a sensible resolution.
Settlement was reached at about 11 p.m. Monday in mediations facilitated by former District Judge Richard Dana of the Judicial Arbiter Group. City Attorney Cole Finegan pronounced the agreement "fair and in the city's best interests." The settlement must be approved by City Council. The Childs family had notified the city in January that it would file a federal civil-rights lawsuit seeking at least $5 million. By mediating rather than going to trial, the city presumably avoids additional legal costs of its own, exposure to unlimited damages under federal law and possibly huge legal fees if the city lost in court. Officer James Turney, who shot Paul Childs when the teen failed to drop a kitchen knife as ordered, was suspended for 10 months without pay for lack of judgment and ill-advised tactics. He is appealing what is an unusually stern discpline for Denver. Since the Childs shooting, the Denver police have acquired more Tasers and increased training on less-lethal methods and crisis intervention methods to lessen the likelihood of fatal shootings. Taxpayers may be angry to foot the bill for a reckless cop. But nobody paid a higher price in this tragedy than Paul Childs. |