Childs shooting causes group to seek new law

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
July 30, 2003

Abby Chavez knew something had upset her friend Mikelle Learned.

The two teenagers were on their way to a summer internship program - the Colorado Cross Disabilities Coalition - on July 7.

But Learned, a 20-year-old East High School student who has cerebral palsy and travels in a wheelchair, kept punching up the same word on her DynaVox - a device that converts typed messages into spoken words.

"Paul," the machine blurted out.

"Paul . . . Paul . . . Paul . . . Friend."

Chavez and her mother suspected they knew what Learned was trying to say.

"Paul" was Paul Childs, the 15-year-old fellow special education student who had been shot to death that weekend in an encounter with a Denver police officer.

Childs and Learned were friends. He had taken her to the prom. Learned talked about him all the time, Chavez said. She still does.

The shooting, which remains under investigation, galvanized six disabled young people serving as interns in the eight-week program.

Before then, they had been studying the legislative process. But with Childs' death, the group suddenly felt it had a mission: to promote a law aimed at preventing similar tragedies.

"They've become a pretty tight group," said Christina Johnson, who oversees the interns at Cross Disabilities offices at 655 Broadway.

In previous summers, Johnson said, interns worked on projects such as measuring parking lot spaces to see if they complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But this project was more personal, explained 15-year-old Taylor Stewart.

"We had come up with a few ideas before," she said. "But when the case of Paul Childs happened, it came close to home for everybody. Of course, Mikelle really brought it home for us."

The group has met with Ray Slaughter, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

Slaughter and others explained to the young people how some police departments have adopted crisis-

intervention training to teach officers how to deal with mentally ill or developmentally disabled people.

"They were just nice kids looking for a good project," Slaughter said. He explained to the young people that in most areas, the training is based on grant availability, not legislation.

But the group said it hopes to make such training mandatory, Johnson said.

The internship ends Friday, but Johnson is working on getting the interns credit this fall for following the progress of any legislation stemming from the shooting.

Meanwhile, Learned punched out another message on her DynaVox.

"I miss Paul," the machine said. "He was very nice."

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