Turney's father-in-law requests meeting with top city officials

By Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
April 23, 2004

The father-in-law of suspended police officer James Turney said his family has received death threats since the killing of Paul Childs.

David Pridemore, the father of Turney's wife, Trista, reported the threats to Police Chief Chief Gerry Whitman and other Denver officials in an e-mail Monday.

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Pridemore asked for a meeting with Whitman, Manager of Safety Al LaCabe and Mayor John Hickenlooper to discuss Turney's suspension and protection for his family.

"Not only have you endangered your own employees by this response, you have personally endangered my children and thus my entire family," he wrote. "I have seen no effort by the government of the city to ensure the personal protection of my son and daughter. I know death threats have been issued."

The e-mail refers to a brief conversation that Pridemore had with the chief Monday as hundreds of police officers demonstrated in front of City Hall in support of Turney. Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, the mayor's spokeswoman, said a meeting with Hickenlooper might be inappropriate because of pending legal action, but that the mayor plans to respond to Pridemore.

Pridemore said in his e-mail that he is disturbed by the actions taken against Turney. The officer was suspended for 10 months for his tactical decisions leading up to the July 5, 2003, shooting death of Childs.

"I am of the personal opinion that the actions by you, Mr. LaCabe and Mr. Hickenlooper are simply and plainly politically motivated," Pride-more wrote. "I would like to hear from you specifically why you turned from the recommendations of the (Firearms Discharge) Review Board and the Disciplinary (Review) Board in putting such a harsh sentence on Jim."

The Firearms Discharge Review Board, made up of six members of the police department's command staff, called for a 30-day suspension, while the Disciplinary Review Board, a panel of five officers and two civilians, recommended a written reprimand.

Pridemore's reaction is similar to those expressed in a letter drafted by his daughter and posted on the Web site thebrokenbadge.com.

"We all know this is nothing but a political issue," Trista Turney, who is also a Denver police officer, said in a letter dated March 28. "I'm not saying that the shooting of Paul Childs was not a tragedy. It was and we all know it. However, the chief and the mayor are sending us the message that it would have been much easier for the city to be paying for a cop's funeral . . . then (sic) to stand up in public and say that Jim did the right thing."

Turney's father-in-law suggested his family be given the same access to governmental officials, support from the city and media access as the Childs family has been given.

"When will the Turney family be given the same?" he said in the letter. Pride-more, who declined to be interviewed, told the Rocky Mountain News in an e-mail that he has been threatened with arrest.

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