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Childs Family Upset At Removal Of Turney Suspension
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 14, 2005

DENVER, COLORADO--On Thursday, a civil service officer announced that Denver Police Officer James Turney should not have received any punishment for shooting to death Paul Childs III on July 5, 2003.

Turney fired four shots into Childs, a 15-year-old African-American with mental retardation and epilepsy, killing the teen on the front porch of his home. Turney shot Childs within seconds of telling the teen to drop a kitchen knife he had clutched to his own chest.

Turney was later given a 10-month suspension without pay. Turney appealed the suspension. Civil service hearing officer John Criswell overturned the suspension Thursday.

Childs' family and others said they were angered but not surprised at Criswell's decision.

"(Turney) should face the death penalty," Paul's older sister Ashley told the Denver Post. "If my brother would have been white, or this had happened in Boulder, James Turney wouldn't have been able to appeal. I think he would have been in jail."

"I don't feel that justice has been served," she said. "There needs to be a lot of changes in the system."

Paul's mother, Helen Childs, said: "It don't make sense. It upsets me."

"If you kill someone, you should face the consequences and not just get away with it," Mrs. Child said. "It's wrong. It's totally wrong."

The City of Denver agreed to make changes within the department and to pay the family over $1 million to avoid a lawsuit.

Denver Post columnist Jim Spencer wrote Friday: "Think about it. Childs' life was worth $1.325 million to settle a potential wrongful death suit against the Police Department because of what Turney did."

"Yet Criswell claimed Turney's conduct didn't merit even a one-day suspension, much less the 10 months off without pay that the city tried to give him."

Mayor John Hickenlooper said Thursday that he would ask Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan to review the case to decide whether to appeal Criswell's ruling.

Related:
"Kin stung but not surprised" (Denver Post)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/red/0114b.htm
"Cop ruling ignores sea change" (Denver Post)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/05/red/0114a.htm

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