The Denver Post

Taking cop off the street empowering
By Cindy Rodriguez
Denver Post Columnist

Friday, April 16, 2004 -

Thank God he won't be patrolling the streets of Denver anymore.

Officer James Turney, the cop who threatened his former mother-in-law, and shot to death two disabled black teens in the line of duty in the span of 18 months, is done.

Effective today, Turney is being suspended for 10 months without pay.

He'll come back to a desk job where he won't be racing to crime scenes, placing himself in dangerous situations where he'll feel compelled to shoot first and ask questions later.

He's lucky to be coming back to a job. But at least in working the desk, he's not likely to shoot anyone.

This was the best the city could do, given the circumstances.

Well, I wanted to see him fired. But that would have launched an appeal, and in the end Turney would win and be back on the force.

Some say Turney has gotten away with murder. I won't go that far.

I just think he was a trigger-happy cop who lacked common sense, and for that reason would always be a danger to others at crime scenes.

I can't believe other cops still want to protect such a loose cannon.

Thursday, in announcing his decision, Denver Safety Manager Al LaCabe said he couldn't fire Turney because, under current police regulations, an officer has the authority to shoot if that officer is in imminent danger.

But the reason Turney is never going to work the streets again is because Turney put himself in imminent danger.

When he killed Paul Childs, Turney was looking for a confrontation, not a solution.

That day, July 5, Turney ran out of his patrol car - past two other officers who had drawn stun guns - to the doorstep of 5550 E. Thrill Place.

Childs' sister, Ashley, and mother had already left the house and had closed the door.

Even their two dogs were out of the house.

Helen Childs screamed from her lawn that everyone was out except for her son, Paul.

The only person Paul Childs could've hurt was himself. But Turney wasn't trying to stop a suicide. He ran up to the front door, opened it and, with his gun drawn, yelled for Paul Childs.

Paul Childs walked over, feet shuffling, the knife in either one hand or both with the blade pointing upward.

Turney told him to drop the knife.

Paul Childs didn't.

So he shot.

Turney shot him four times from a distance of about 6 feet. Four times - just in case the first three shots didn't get him.

The boy - and I say boy because his mental disabilities left him with the brain of a younger child - died at the hospital.

It took days to wash away the bloodstains that remained on the family's cement porch.

But nothing will wash away the anger and sadness so many of us feel about this senseless death.

Turney could've avoided all that if he hadn't been so quick to rush to the front door. He wouldn't have been in "imminent danger" if he hadn't opened the Childses' family door.

Cops aren't supposed to do that. It wasn't a drug bust where you need the element of surprise.

Why didn't he do what he was trained to do: keep his hands off the door and back up?

He provoked the situation, leading to his so-called justified shooting.

That's not just my conclusion.

That's not just the conclusion of the members of the Black Ministerial Alliance.

That's not just the conclusion of City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth.

That's not just the conclusion of Helen Childs.

It's the conclusion of LaCabe, a former deputy district attorney and former police officer. Mayor John Hickenlooper stands by the decision.

LaCabe pored over all the written testimony, affidavits, videotaped interviews, police reports, ballistic studies, eyewitness accounts, photographs, the medical examiners' reports.

This is what he concluded: Turney made several "tactical and judgment" errors that put him in danger.

"By immediately forcing a confrontation with Mr. Childs, Officer Turney exposed himself and others to an immediate risk of harm, placing Mr. Childs only six to seven feet away from Officer Turney, and creating a likely deadly force situation," LaCabe wrote in his report.

Even though we didn't have access to all the information that LaCabe reviewed, in the end, we can come to a similar conclusion.

I don't know anyone who wants Turney patrolling his or her neighborhood.

A cop like that is a liability, and we needed to let him go. But since we can't, we got the next best thing: He's got a desk job.

Let's hope it's in the basement.