Ex-mother-in-law says James Turney warned he would shoot her

By John C. Ensslin And Sarah Huntley, Rocky Mountain News
July 10, 2003

The day before Denver police officer James Turney shot and killed a knife-wielding 15-year-old, he allegedly threatened, during a phone conversation, to shoot his former mother-in-law, police sources said Wednesday.

The ex-mother-in-law, who lives in Iowa, called Denver police on July 4 to report the threat but was transferred to an internal affairs office voicemail, two sources said. The office was closed for the holiday weekend.

Police became aware of the complaint when the office reopened Monday and launched an immediate investigation. By then, however, Turney had fatally wounded Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled East High School student who was threatening his mother with a knife.

Since the shooting, which occurred Saturday, Turney has been under intense public scrutiny, with members of the black community calling for his permanent removal from a patrol assignment.

Turney was suspended with pay on Tuesday in connection with the alleged phone threat. Both the Friday incident and the Saturday shooting remain under investigation.

Turney's former mother-in-law could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But two former chairs of the Public Safety Review Commission said the call is troubling.

"It gives us some insight, perhaps, into his state of mind and the type of volatility he may have been feeling when (the shooting) happened," said Joseph Sandoval, a former police officer who now works as an attorney and college professor. "It provides insight into a troubled man."

Adrienne Benevidez, another former chairperson, said the call raises questions.

"If someone is emotionally distraught, it should be a concern for the police department or any employer," Benevidez said. "Unfortunately for police officers, their job is often very stressful and it makes a difficult situation even more difficult."

Benevidez added, however, that emotional distress is not an excuse for improper use of deadly force.

The Childs shooting was not Turney's first.

Eighteen months ago, the patrol officer sat in an interrogation room at the Denver Police Department and told a homicide lieutenant how he came to shoot another black male, 18-year-old Gregory L. Smith Jr., who had broken through his mother's back door after smashing her car window earlier that day.

Turney was calm and soft-spoken while recounting the previous shooting, which occurred Jan. 30, 2002, after Smith pulled out a pocketknife while standing in a stairwell in his mother's home.

Turney told investigators he volunteered to respond to the 911 call from Smith's home because he was closer than the officer contacted by dispatchers. When he arrived, he encountered Smith's mother in the front yard.

"She seemed . . . very excited, you know, about the fact that I was there . . . that she really needed me to help her," Turney said, during the interrogation, which was videotaped.

Turney said he pulled his gun out when he encountered Smith because his mother "seemed scared to me," and "I didn't know if he was armed with another type of weapon."

He opened fire, he said, because he was afraid the teen "was fairly close to everyone involved" and posed a threat.

Smith, who was hearing-impaired, died as a result of his wounds.

Turney's lawyer, Douglas Jewell, said Wednesday he could not discuss the specifics of this week's shooting but urged the public to reserve judgment until the investigation is completed.

"Everyone can agree that this is an extremely unfortunate incident," Jewell said.

"Community input on this kind of case or on any police shooting is not only to be expected, it can be helpful. But at the same time, a lot of opinions expressed early on in the case are based on just that - opinion, feelings, emphasis on only part of the known facts or even conjecture.

"I am convinced, on officer Turney's behalf, that the factual investigation will demonstrate the reasonableness of his actions under the circumstances with which he responded," Jewell said.

Turney's lawyer said shootings "take a toll" on officers.

"The last thing an officer wants to be confronted with is a person advancing upon them with a raised deadly weapon a few feet away and who does not comply with repeated commands to drop the weapon but rather continues to advance," he said.

Calls involving domestic violence or threats are generally considered among the most dangerous for officers.

"The minute officers would not respond quickly to such calls, they would be second-guessed," said Jewell, who added that officers cannot predict how an armed suspect may act even after other residents have been removed from the home.

Turney joined the Denver police force in 1998. When he first applied to become a police officer in 1996, he benefited from his status as a minority candidate.

Turney indicated he was of Asian ancestry based on his mother's side of the family.

The former security guard was among 2,336 people who took the written test. He was among 1,225 who passed.

He also was among 956 applicants who made the cut after taking an oral exam.

But Turney's score had him ranked 812 among those 956 candidates, according to Earl Peterson, director of Denver's Civil Service Commission.

At that point, Turney benefited from the Hoag Decree, a settlement of a 1975 civil rights lawsuit with sought to diversify the ranks of Denver's police officers.

Turney was one of 21 Asian candidates on the candidate list. After undergoing an additional battery of tests, including a polygraph, a psychological evaluation and a background check, he was pulled up to 158th on the list.

That was good enough to get him into the Denver Police Academy, which graduated three classes of 158 officers in 1998.

"Hoag definitely brought him up on the rankings," Peterson said.

"He met the requirements of employment. He successfully completed the police academy and he successfully completed his probationary period," Peterson said.

Turney's job application shows he had applied for jobs with three previous police departments in Nebraska before applying in Denver. He was turned down in one of the jobs because he was not among the top 30 candidates, he said.

The application also indicates that the officer experimented with steroids in 1991 and 1992. The officer said he used the drugs twice, once for 1 ½ weeks and once for 2 ½ weeks. He sold the pills back to the friend who gave them to him because they hurt his stomach, he said.

Peterson said Turney's admitted steroid use did not violate any of the department's standards for employment because it occurred more than six years before he became an officer.

Turney has no record of disciplinary appeals since joining the department, Peterson said.

huntleys@rockymountainnews.com or (303) 892-5212 Listen to John C. Ensslin on "The State of Colorado" at 8 a.m. Friday on KNRC-AM 1150.

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