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Officer Who Shot Paul Childs Gets Promotion And Raise
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 20, 2005

DENVER, COLORADO--Two years ago, Denver Police Officer James Turney shot and killed 15-year-old Paul Childs III in the doorway of the boy's home.

Last week, Turney got a promotion.

He also got a raise.

Turney has been working in the department's technology and support division at a desk job, as ordered by Chief Gerry Whitman, since he returned to the force earlier this year.

Several news sources reported that Turney has been granted a requested transfer to the property bureau. The transfer means he gets a promotion from patrol officer to the title of technician, along with the raise that comes with the new job.

On July 5, 2003, the Childs family called 911 to report that Paul, who had mental retardation and epilepsy, was carrying a kitchen knife around the house in a threatening manner. His mother, Helen, later said she wanted police to come and calm her son because he liked the officers and had often talked with them.

Several officers, including some armed with non-lethal Tasers, arrived and ordered everyone out of the house. Officer Turney arrived at the scene, approached Paul in the front doorway and told him to drop the knife he was clutching with both hands in front of his own face. When Childs failed to drop the knife, Turney fired four times, killing him.

The incident led immediately to public outcry, along with calls for Turney's firing. While an official inquiry cleared Turney of criminal charges, Manager of Safety Al LaCabe determined that Turney had violated the department's "use of force" policy by unnecessarily forcing a confrontation with Childs. He determined that Turney should have stepped away from Childs and allowed a security door close between him and the teen.

In April of last year, LaCabe suspended Turney for 10 months without pay and ordered that he be restricted to office work when he returned to work. The suspension was later overturned. LaCabe is appealing that decision.

"I don't understand the justice system," said Helen Childs told the Rocky Mountain News last week. "If I went out and killed someone, I'd be in jail. I wouldn't be getting promoted and making more money."

Childs was the second teenager with disabilities to be killed by Turney since he joined the department in 1998. On January 30, 2002, Turney killed 18-year-old Gregory Smith Jr. in the home of Smith's mother. Turney shot the partially-deaf teen after he failed to follow orders to drop a pocket knife. Turney was later cleared of criminal wrongdoing in that case as well.

Related:
"The Death of Paul Childs III" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/childs.htm

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