Denver Post

Cops' excuses have fatal shortcoming
By Diane Carman
Denver Post Columnist

Wednesday, July 09, 2003 - The Denver police always have an excuse. It's been like that for years.

Investigators said Jeffrey Truax moved his arm suspiciously just before off-duty police officers unloaded their service weapons into his car, riddling him with bullets back in 1996.

Ismael Mena grabbed a gun just before he was shot to death by police who stormed the wrong house during a no-knock drug raid in 1999.

An obviously intoxicated Steven Evilsizer lunged at officers with a steak knife just before they fired 14 bullets into his body in 1999.

These are the kind of incidents that helped Denver rank sixth in the nation in fatal police shootings per 100,000 population in 2000.

The city has run up some big bills for settlements in wrongful death lawsuits, even though formal inquiries have found justifications for every fatality.

So, many of us are braced to hear yet another rationalization for the shooting death of 15-year-old Paul Childs on Saturday.

According to police reports, the developmentally disabled teen was threatening his mother with a kitchen knife when police were called. When they arrived, police allegedly shoved the boy's mother out of the way and ordered him to drop the knife.

Then, when he failed to obey the officers' commands promptly, he was shot.

Some folks, including the boy's mother, think that might have been an overreaction.

I don't know. I'll wait to hear the excuse.

But at the very least, the incident reveals the desperate need for better training.

The transcript of the 911 call shows that the operator interrupted the caller. Ashley Childs said she was trying to explain that her brother Paul had "special needs."

And it's not clear whether the officers on the scene were aware that he was disabled or if they attempted to find out if he could even understand them.

Denver police Lt. Steven Carter said that in the past year, 127 officers (about 15 percent of the patrol force) have received "crisis-intervention training" for dealing with the disabled, the mentally ill or other troubled individuals.

One of the four officers who responded to the call at the Childs' home was a graduate of the program.

Exact details were not available. The incident is still under investigation.

But Nora Earnest, who works for The Arc of Colorado, a nonprofit group that has provided support and advocacy for the developmentally disabled in the state for 40 years, said many police officers are not adequately trained.

They say things like "Drop the weapon" or "Put your hands over your head," and if the suspect doesn't respond quickly and in a manner typical of a person of average intelligence, they assume he's defying them.

Earnest, who teaches a program for law enforcement officers in skills for handling the developmentally disabled, said the first thing they have to learn is to take their time.

"The developmentally disabled need more time to process information and to decide how to respond," she said.

Childs may have been utterly confused by the situation and, given a moment, might have cooperated fully.

Police officers also need to learn to use the right language, she said.

For example, "'freeze' means nothing to a developmentally disabled person," said Bill Baesman, executive director of The Arc, which has obtained grants to pay for the training program for Colorado police agencies for the next two years.

The objective is to teach them how to work with the disabled, whether they are witnesses, victims or suspects in criminal cases.

Earnest said that a suspect may have no idea what an officer is saying when he asks him if he wants to waive his right to an attorney. "He may be thinking about right and left, or waving his hands."

To an officer, he may appear obstinate when he's really just trying to comprehend what's been said. Another minute - even a few seconds - can make all the difference.

"Too often, they're given to quick impulses when a more thoughtful individualized response is called for," said Marcia Tewell, executive director of the Developmental Disabilities Council of Colorado.

She called it the "post-Columbine" syndrome.

"It's not just the police who are doing this," Tewell said. "The schools do the same thing" with zero-tolerance programs and three-strikes-and-you're-out policies.

"We have let our paranoia cloud our judgment."

As funds for social services around the state dry up and waiting lists for shelters and other programs for the disabled grow longer, families are left on their own to manage their complex needs. Problems are inevitable.

In the wake of Paul Childs' death, families of the disabled need reassurance that when they call 911, they'll get help.

No excuses.

Diane Carman's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail: dcarman@denverpost.com .