Recording reveals her claim teen was trying to stab mom

By Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
October 27, 2004

The older sister of a 15-year-old boy shot and killed by a Denver police officer testified Tuesday that she never thought her knife-wielding brother was a threat to others, just his "clumsy" self.

Ashley Childs said she called police on July 5, 2003, because she thought officers would provide the attention her brother, Paul, was seeking when he walked around the family home with a kitchen knife and refused to drop it.

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But when the 911 call was played during the seventh day of officer James Turney's discipline appeal hearing, Ashley never stated her brother was looking for attention. She clearly said, "My brother has a knife, and he's trying to stab my mother with it."

Minutes later, Turney fired four shots at Paul, a developmentally disabled teen. The officer said Paul ignored his commands to drop the knife and moved toward him and three other officers.

"Do you call the police when your brother wants attention?" Turney's lawyer, Doug Jewell, asked 17-year-old Ashley.

"Yeah," she responded, never looking at Jewell.

Ashley said she thought the officers would "wrestle" Paul to the ground when he didn't drop the knife. But instead, Ashley testified, she saw her brother's eyes welling up with tears as he faced the officers while still clenching the knife.

Then she heard shots.

"When I opened my eyes, he was on the ground," she said.

In April, Manager of Safety Al LaCabe suspended Turney for 10 months without pay for "tactical errors" made before the shooting and for allegedly threatening his former mother-in-law.

In the shooting case, LaCabe said, Turney should have closed a security door leading to the home and backed away when he determined no one else was inside, LaCabe said.

City attorneys have tried to establish that Turney had time to close the security door and seek cover, creating time and distance to calm the volatile situation.

The other three officers to respond that day to the Childs home on Thrill Place also testified Tuesday, backing up Turney's actions.

Officer Randall Krouse said he was the last to arrive at the home and drew his Taser. As he got closer to Paul, he saw a distant look on his face, he said.

"As I put it, he was in another world," Krouse said.

When Paul didn't drop the knife after commands to do so from the officers, Krouse testified that he started to squeeze the Taser's trigger. He thought it went off, but Turney had fired, he said.

"In my mind, thank God he did," Krouse said of Turney's decision to pull the trigger.

"In my opinion he could have stabbed either one of us," he later said.

Officer Todd Geddes, who arrived at the home at the same time as Turney, said he "realized that if he (Paul) advanced out of the house, this will be a deadly force situation."

Geddes, who originally drew his Taser, pulled out his gun when he saw Paul holding the knife, he said.

David Naysmith, who now works in the crime lab, testified that he felt that Paul created a threat. He said he never thought it was an option for the officers to retreat or seek cover.

"We were there to help," Naysmith said. "They called for us. We were there to end the problem."

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.