Denver Post

Cop gives account of Childs' death
Transcript: Didn't hear urgings to use stun gun
By Mike McPhee
Denver Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - Officer James Turney told police investigators that he ordered 15-year-old Paul Childs three to five times to drop his knife - which he refused to do - before Turney shot and killed the mentally disabled teen, according to a transcript of a police interview obtained by The Denver Post.

Childs' mother and older sister said in interviews with police hours after the shooting that they heard the officer yell at Paul to drop his knife.

But, the relatives added, other officers were yelling, "Tase 'im, tase 'im," before Turney fired four shots from his Glock 21 with a laser aiming light. The reference was to the nonlethal Taser gun, which stuns a victim but leaves no permanent injuries.

Turney never heard anyone at the scene yell anything about a Taser gun, he told police.

The accounts from Turney and from Childs' mother and sister about what happened July 5 are contained in transcripts of interviews the police conducted hours after the shooting as part of their investigation.

Childs was shot in the front doorway of family's northeast Denver house. Turney was placed on leave with pay pending the outcome of the police inquiry.

A source close to the investigation shared the documents with The Post. The transcripts are expected to be turned over to Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, who will decide whether to file charges. The shooting led to calls from community leaders for a federal investigation.

During the confrontation, Turney said he had his left foot on the porch and his right foot on the sidewalk, about 3 to 5 feet from the door. Another officer, standing to Turney's right and armed with a Taser gun, told Turney that he could see Childs behind the door and that he was holding a filet knife with a blade 6 to 7 inches long.

"Uh, we told him to ... drop the knife. An' at that point he started to advance ... with the knife in his hand," Turney said, according to the transcript of an interview conducted by Lt. James Haney of the Crimes Against Persons Bureau.

Asked how many times he ordered Childs to drop the knife, Turney said, "at least three to five times at this point before he started to advance."

In response to questions about what Childs was doing, Turney said, "Uh, he keeps the knife in this position with the blade up. Uh, he takes some short, choppy steps, probably three to five steps toward the door with the knife in his hand. We order him again to stop an' drop the knife. Um, he does not stop, nor does he drop the knife."

Turney estimated he was 5 to 7 feet from Childs.

Did he acknowledge or respond to you? the investigator asked.

"No. Um, when he first walked around the corner he looked at me. The first thing I noticed was the knife in his hand. And I looked at his face, an' he was staring right at me. ... It was clear to me that, uh, at any given moment he could've lunged at me with the knife. I was in front o' the doorway so I fired, uh, two to three times center mass. And I fired until he went down to the ground."

Turney estimated the entire sequence from first ordering Childs to drop the knife until firing his weapon took three to four seconds.

Turney said Childs staggered back a little after he was shot. "He didn't just slump down. He was kinda pushed back, an' he landed on his back."

Turney said two officers rushed in and handcuffed the mortally wounded Childs as Turney called for an ambulance.

Asked why he didn't retreat, Turney responded, "Um, as far as retreating I ... we're not required to retreat. And I was at somewhat of an elevated position, and if I would've retreated an' went back, I could've fallen on my back, which means the suspect could've jumped out an' stabbed me at that point or cut me."

Asked if he considered shooting Childs in the leg, Turney said, "We're instructed to shoot center mass. The largest target. Uh, that way you ensure that all your rounds get into the suspect an' don't miss 'im ... an' go through a wall ... an' possibly hurt someone else."

Turney's lawyer, Doug Jewell, who was present during the interview, declined to comment Tuesday.

Turney said he had had prior contact with Childs a month and a half earlier after an attempted bicycle theft at East 38th Avenue and Dahlia Street. Turney said he and his partner tried to pat down Childs, who tried to pull away and had to be handcuffed. Turney and his partner drove Childs home to his mother, who told police she had trouble raising her son.

Turney said he recognized the teen who held the knife on the day of the shooting as Childs.

Childs' mother, Helen, told police her son wasn't himself that day and that he had torn his room apart the night before. Two weeks earlier, her son was found near Interstate 225 and County Line Road (which don't intersect), where he suffered a seizure on a bus. He had failed to take his medicine, Tegretol (for seizures) and Zoloft (for attention deficit disorder), so he was admitted for a week into the Adolescence Psychiatric Unit at Children's Hospital. He also used Adderall for depression, she said.

He was released July 1, four days before he died. The next day, he ran off again and was picked up by Lafayette police, who brought him home, she said.

Helen Childs said it was the first time her son had ever threatened anyone with a knife and that they actually started laughing when Paul pulled the knife from a kitchen drawer. She said she told Paul to put the knife down but that he kept walking around behind her.

"An' that's when my daughter was on the phone sayin' my brother is walkin' around with a knife behind my mom. I said Paul, Ashley's on the phone with the police, so you better put the knife down. Because if the police come ... an' I showed 'im, they're gonna have their guns draw just like this an' this is ... you're gonna make this seem, this worser (sic) than what it is. All you need to do is put the knife down."

She said her daughter was lying on the couch talking with police while Paul stood over her with the knife, just holding it and not pointing it at her. Two minutes later, she said, police arrived.

She said officers ordered everyone out of the house. "I was behind the police. So then Paul comes to the door, an' they say ... Paul, drop the knife, or sir, drop the knife, or sir, you need to drop the knife. ...

"It was just two times. Then I heard officers say, 'Jus' tase 'im, jus' tase 'im.' Next thing we know, I, I'm lookin' pow, pow, pow. An' he falls to the ground."

She described the knife as an old dull knife with a flat, broken tip. She said the time from when Paul pulled the knife until police arrived was about six to 10 minutes.

She recalled four officers with their guns drawn on her porch, one with his foot in the door and one yelling for a Taser to be used. She said she saw the red laser lights for aiming the weapons.