Rocky Mountain News: Local

Rocky Mountain News

To print this page, select File then Print from your browser

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2134727,00.html

Feds may review Denver cops' use-of-force policy

Investigation could follow DA's probe into teen's shooting

By Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News
July 25, 2003

The U.S. Department of Justice may open an investigation into the Denver Police Department's use-of- force policy in the wake of the shooting death of Paul Childs.

If an investigation is launched, it would be conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division, said U.S. attorney spokesman Jeff Dorschner.

The Justice Department does not have to disclose whether it is conducting a civil rights investigation until it is concluded.

The possible involvement by federal officials comes at the request of City Council President Elbra Wedgeworth and council member Michael Hancock, who sent a letter to U.S. Attorney John Suthers on July 18 after Denver police officer James Turney shot and killed Childs. Childs was 15 and developmentally disabled.

In the letter, the council members requested an independent federal investigation into possible civil rights abuses in the death of Childs and another investigation into the police department's use of "fatal force."

In a letter faxed to the council chambers Thursday afternoon, Suthers said the Department of Justice wouldn't open an investigation into the shooting death until the Denver district attorney's office has concluded its own investigation.

"The department will then review the local investigation and its conclusions and determine whether further investigation is necessary and/or whether federal intervention is appropriate," the letter states.

"I will remain in touch with District Attorney Bill Ritter, Police Chief Gerry Whitman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Philip Reid, as well as the Civil Rights Division, to ensure that the DOJ's review of this matter takes place expeditiously upon conclusion of the local investigation."

Wedgeworth called the letter "encouraging news" and part of a "long process that has just begun."

"I think it is an appropriate decision for the U.S. attorney to make and I think that is what the public at large expects," she said. "My main goal is to make sure this never happens again and that we have the policies and procedures in place to prevent it."

Police Chief Gerry Whitman could not be reached for comment.