Mayor, police chief testify at officer's appeal hearing

By Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
October 28, 2004

Denver's mayor and police chief denied Wednesday that the city promised to restrict a police officer to desk duty to settle a potential lawsuit against the city.

Mayor John Hickenlooper and Police Chief Gerry Whitman testified in officer James Turney's discipline appeal hearing, saying they knew nothing of a deal of that kind.

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Turney's lawyers tried to establish that an agreement was made with the family of Paul Childs, a 15-year-old developmentally disabled boy shot by Turney in July 2003, in which the family received a promise that the officer would remain off the streets.

Turney is looking to overturn his 10-month suspension without pay and eventually head back to patrol.

His appeal is the most high-profile challenge of the city's authority to discipline a police officer in recent memory.

Hickenlooper testified that "no specific demands or requests" were made to him by the Childs family or their lawyers, including that Turney be limited to desk duty.

Both officials said they were not part of settlement conversations, which eventually led to the Childs family accepting $1.3 million from the city.

Whitman spent a majority of the day on the stand reiterating his reasoning for a recommendation that Turney be suspended for 20 days without pay for the July 5, 2003, shooting.

He also had recommended that Turney should be suspended for five days with pay and a four-day fine for allegedly threatening his ex-mother-in-law the day before.

Ultimately, Manager of Safety Al LaCabe, Whitman's boss, had the final decision in Turney's discipline and handed down the 10-month suspension in April. He said Turney made "tactical errors" leading up to the shooting of the teen.

Whitman pieced together his reasoning by picking apart the fatal day, when Paul Childs' sister called 911 to say her brother was trying to stab their mother. He testified there were 33 seconds between the time one of the four officers at the Childs' home spotted the boy with a knife, reporting it to dispatch, and the time Turney requested an ambulance for the shot teen.

Turney acted appropriately in the "final frames" of the confrontation, when the teen ignored commands to drop the knife and moved toward the officers, Whitman said.

But the chief did take exception with the way Turney handled the situation after clearing the family from the home. The officer should have talked to the family, slowed the incident down, created a barrier between him and the teen, and gotten out of the "kill zone," Whitman testified.

In coming up with his recommendation, Whitman said he looked for holes in what Turney had been taught in the police academy and how the officer responded that July day.

"He operated outside of his training," Whitman concluded.

Whitman cited a clause in the department's operations manual, which refers to "efficiency and safety," as the reason Turney should be suspended.

In the last 20 years, no officer had been disciplined for violating this clause.

Whitman also was questioned about 20 years of data he requested, regarding officer shootings of knife-wielding suspects.

In 21 out of the 28 cases, officers did not take cover, Turney's lawyer, Doug Jewell, pointed out. In a majority of the cases, the suspects advanced toward the officers, Jewell also reported. In none of those case was an officer disciplined for tactical errors as Turney was, Jewell said.

The hearing will continue today with testimony from LaCabe and was expected to wrap up by Friday. However, Turney's lawyers have yet to call 10 witnesses.

The case

• Officer James Turney wants to be allowed to go back on patrol and is trying to establish that the city made an agreement with the family of Paul Childs, the 15-year-old Turney shot in July 2003, that Turney would remain off the streets.

• Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Police Chief Gerry Whitman deny that a deal was made.

• The hearing will continue today and is expected to wrap up by Friday.

langbeins@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2536

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