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     32 Seconds on Thrill Place: The killing of Paul Childs by David Bean

   This recently completed documentary examines the facts and opinions surrounding the death of a 15 year old disabled youth at the Hands of the Denver Police Department. Based on interviews with Denver’s Mayor, Manager of Safety, and other city officials on one side and Denver activists Rev. Paul Martin, Sharif Aleem, and Alvertis Simmons on the other. The documentary is 1 hour and 19 minutes long and is available in DVD format. To obtain a copy please go to the contact us page. Below is a description of the incident itself that occurred on July 5, 2003.

   The Thrill Place address where Paul Childs was killed is about 200 yards from the home where I grew up. I lived in that neighborhood until I was seventeen years old. Denver really doesn't have a so-called ghetto like the places given that name in many larger cities. This North Park Hill neighborhood has been the scene of it's share of Denver's violent crime. A walk through wouldn't really tell that story. Most of the houses were built in the 1940s and 1950s. There are tall maple and elm trees on every block. The houses are mostly modest ranch style homes with two or three bedrooms and large lawns in front and back. There is a park and recreation center a stones throw from the home the Childs family occupied at the time of Paul's death. Also close by are shops, restaurants and a convenience store that pass for a local business district. Park Hill is actually known as one of Denver's more affluent neighborhoods. The affluence drifts away slowly after you cross 23rd avenue heading north. Ten blocks north of that line, this neighborhood with the same name, has turned into a predominantly African-American economically depressed area.  I couldn't possibly tally the number of times I have passed by that address.  July fourth would have been an active and celebratory day. Barbecues and family get togethers would have been commonplace.  July 5th would have been a typical day after a holiday. It is easy for me to imagine the occasional sound of illegal firecrackers still unused from the week before. It was a weekend and people would be doing lawn work and asking how your Fourth had been. My memories are maybe from a quieter time in that area but it is hard to imagine things being much different now. This day after the 4th of July was the last day of life for fifteen year old Paul Childs.

   Paul Childs had what one neurologist described as a massive seizure two weeks before he was killed.  The seizure occurred on an RTD bus.  Paul Childs' mother said that he had been "kinda distant" in the days before he was killed by James Turney of the Denver Police Department. "He just wasn't Paul," she added. She also stated that he did not take his medications meant to control his hyperactivity disorder or seizures for the day before or the day of the shooting. One neurologist testified that the effects of a seizure like the one Paul had on the bus could last for weeks. He might seem unresponsive as a symptom and that can sometimes be taken for aggressiveness.  Paul was rescued from that bus by his friends the police.

   People who knew Paul often remarked about the way he liked the police. I don't know if it was the sirens, the action they saw or the uniform itself. He seemed to like them for whatever reason and kept a stack of  business cards collected from his many encounters with the Denver Police Department.  They seemed to like him as well.  I believe Paul's  Mother and Sister thought they did like him.  During the interview they did with CNN after his killing, Ashley Childs and her Mother Helen, both remarked on the relationship between Paul and the cops.  Paul's Mother said; “The reason why the police were called is because Paul thought the police was his his friend and he trusted the police.  And we were calling the police to calm him down, just to calm him down, not for them to come and do what they did.”  Helen Childs added that “... They knew my son. Most of the officers in the area knew my son, because they brought him home plenty of times.”

   It seems Paul had a tendency to wander off. He would sometimes on foot and sometimes on his bicycle, just go exploring. On at least one occasion, James Turney, the officer that fired the fatal shots had brought Paul home from one of these adventures. Turney testified that the boy did look familiar as he approached the scene of the killing on Thrill Place. He latter recalled that he had brought Paul and his bicycle home just two or three weeks earlier. This was one of many calls to the police from the Childs home.  The family was having a rough week.

   James Turney was having a tumultuous week as well. His Mother-in-law Rozelle Orme testified that the day before the killing he had threatened her. "I will put a bullet in the middle of your head" Turney told her. She added that "He was very slow and precise."  She reported that incident to the police the day before Paul was killed.  She had been afraid for her life because of Turney's threats. Another Denver resident who had spoken with Turney for approximately twenty minutes the day before the killing, reported Turney as unstable and violent to a police receptionist. He informed her that Turney was a danger to the community and he “should not be on the streets.” Turney reportedly indicated to him that he “needed to kill somebody so people would know who was in charge of this neighborhood.”  Both of these warning calls went if not unheeded, without action taken.

   Paul's week was also not without tension. He had run away from home on July 2nd. On July 4th he had “torn apart” his bedroom, according to testimony from his mother. On July 5th he hadn't spoken to her all day when he finally sat down next to her on the family's sofa. She told him she loved him and he reached over with his hand to cover her mouth. She joked about him killing her. Paul went to the kitchen and returned with a long kitchen knife. Mother, Sister and visitors all laughed at this sight. Nobody seemed scared at first. After several request for Paul to put down the knife were unanswered his sister became concerned.  Ashley who was a year older than her brother testified that she called the police to “calm him down.” She said that she thought they might wrestle the knife away from him but did not think they would shoot him.  Latter when Turney 's lawyer asked if she called the police regularly to calm her brother down, she answered “Yeah.” Ashley called 911 at about, One o'clock.

   What happened next apparently happened very quickly. Several officers responded to the 911 call. They ordered the family and their visitors out of the home through the back door. Helen Childs came around to the front door and was speaking to Paul through the security door on the small front porch. She testified that she told him “Come on Paul, here are your friends,” referring to the police.  “This is what you want,” she said. The officers in the yard were seemingly waiting to see if she could effect some resolution.  They were not inactive however, they had weapons drawn including at least one taser. Then Turney arrived.  From the time Turney arrived until the time an ambulance was called for from the police dispatcher, 32 seconds elapsed. The walk from the sidewalk in front of the Childs home to the front door is about thirty feet. Turney could have covered that distance in about four seconds. Helen Childs testified that Turney grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her off the porch. She was trying to tell him that her son was disabled. Turney spoke to her after removing her from the porch saying “I don't need to hear that,” she said. That took perhaps another five or six seconds. Next Turney learned from one of the other officers that Paul was still behind the door with a knife. He returned to the doorway, opened the security door and held it open with his foot.  James Turney had his pistol drawn and ordered the boy to drop the knife. At this point probably another five seconds had elapsed. Turney at that time was the only officer who could see for sure what was going on as he would be blocking the doorway from the others view. He testified that the boy took several short choppy but deliberate steps toward him. Perhaps another three or four seconds. He testified that he felt he was at a close enough distance that the boy could have reached out and stabbed him. Helen Childs was yelling “Don't kill my baby, don't kill my baby.” According to testimony one of the officers also yelled “use a taser, use a taser.” As the second call to use a taser ended the shots rang out. “I fired four shots, center mass,” Turney said. Turney stated he was functioning according to his training. So I assume that next he moved the knife a safe distance from the dying boy, checked his body to make sure he was not armed with another weapon and then made the call for an ambulance from his vest radio.  Thirty Two seconds after he had arrived.  Paul died moments later at a local hospital.

   Given this scenario and the short time in which it took place I am left with some questions.  Why did Turney take such complete control of the situation when he was last to arrive? It seems he would find out from the other officers at the scene what the plan was and assist.  Was he the senior officer at the home that afternoon? Why did the officers fore go the use of the taser? Apparently some one even spoke up about the taser option as an officer yelled “use a taser, use a taser.” From what I understand about the taser, it has a maximum range of twenty to twenty five feet. Paul Childs was shot from a distance of three to four feet.  It seems to me that James Turney created the critical situation by standing in the doorway. None of the other cops were standing in the doorway. According to the procedures of the Denver Police Department, the critical range for lethal force is under twenty yards. That is twice the distance from the door of the Childs home to the street. So when Turney exited his patrol car he was already inside that distance that gave him the right to shoot.  So why did he close the distance? Perhaps he did so to remove Helen Childs from danger. Once she was out of the way however, Turney closed the distance even further.  Further than any cop on the scene had seen fit to confront the boy. When asked by Karla Pierce, a city attorney, if he considered any other option besides holding his ground and firing, Turney answered “No, I did not.”  At least one cop I spoke to told me that he or many other cops he knew would have tried to hit the boy with the door as he tried to exit the home or simply close the door. Al LaCabe the cities Manager of Safety, suspended Officer Turney for creating a lethal force situation.  "By immediately forcing a confrontation with Mr. Childs, Officer Turney exposed himself and others to an immediate risk of harm, placing Mr. Childs only six to seven feet away from Officer Turney, and creating a likely deadly force situation.

     Turney 's suspension would latter be overturned by lawyers from the Civil Service Commission.  The policy in place allowed for the use of lethal force on anyone armed with a knife within twenty yards. Ray Sandoval, one of the four hundred and fifty officers, a full third of the patrol force in Denver, that showed up to protest Turney 's suspension, told the Rocky Mountain News; "I just want to know what was wrong with what Turney did," "I'll tell you one thing, if someone is stupid enough to pull a knife on me, I'll kill them." Obviously some Denver cops think that those thirty-two seconds were well spent.

   One of the things about Turney 's testimony that stands out to me is when he described the shots fired at “center mass.” The term “center mass” is generally known among target shooters and those training to shoot. It is rarely used when referring to a person, and more often when referring to a target or a hypothetical enemy. Months after the killing, Turney still thought of Paul Childs in that way.