Lawyer says Turney followed his training in shooting of teen

By Brian D. Crecente And Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News
April 16, 2004

Officer James Turney will appeal his suspension on the grounds that it is excessive and unjustified, his lawyer said Thursday.

"The basic grounds for the appeal are that there are no policy violations here, and secondly, even if assuming for argument's sake there was one, the amount of suspension is excessive, to say the least," said attorney Doug Jewell.

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"It's unfortunate when an officer is disciplined by the city and disciplined this harshly for doing what the city trained him to do and doing what was reasonable under the circumstances."

Turney received word of his suspension Thursday morning in a face-to-face meeting with police administration, Jewell said.

Turney, he said, was disappointed.

The 10-month suspension without pay goes into effect today whether or not an appeal is filed, Jewell said.

Jewell characterized the manager of safety's decision as a politicized one that didn't fit the facts of the case.

"The manager of safety and the mayor are confronted with political challenges and make political decisions, and they made such a decision today," he said.

Jewell also called into question the decision to place Turney at a desk after he serves out his suspension.

"To my understanding, if not unprecedented, it is an extremely rare occasion to have a preordained agreement between the mayor, the manager of safety and the chief of police as to a particular assignment for an officer coming back," Jewell said. "I thought that would have been up to the chief of police."

Jewell points to the fact that no specific training violations were cited as reasons for the suspension.

"The manager's decision seems to be suggesting it was improper tactics for officer Turney to remain near the front door and order (Childs) to come out from behind the door," Jewell said. "This interpretation of tactics seems to be unprecedented.

"The manager has yet to show how he did the wrong thing according to training."

Turney was unavailable for comment Thursday.

The only public explanation given by Turney about the shooting came in a videotaped interview with police hours after the incident.

In a 40-minute taped interview following the shooting, Turney spoke in a flat tone about the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of Paul Childs.

"The first thing I noticed was the knife in his hand," he said. "Then I looked at his face, and he was staring right at me. And then I continued to fixate on the knife. And then as he got closer, I started to look at the center of his mass, of his body.

"It was clear to me that at any moment he could have lunged at me with the knife. I was in front of the doorway, so I fired two to three times center of mass. And I fired until he went down on the ground."

"He was going to come, and he was going to stab me," he said.

"I was in fear for my life and the officers that were nearby."

Turney said he chose not to retreat because he feared he would fall backward.

Plus, he said, his training taught him that he doesn't have to.

Copyright 2004, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.