You make a good point about the danger zone and I didn't realize that it was that large. That is probably why no criminal charges were ever filed against the policeman, although he was suspended without pay for ten months. You're also right about Paul Child's sister's 911 call. The dispatcher cut her off before she was able to fully explain about her brother's disability, however. In your link, it said that it would be wise for a policeman to retreat and find cover rather than rush toward a person holding a knife, which is what that policeman did. Everyone else except for Paul Childs was already out of the house when this was all happening, so why didn't the policeman take a few steps back so he would be out of the danger zone instead of rushing forward which placed him in the danger zone in the first place?
In the article DA Ritter said that Childs was 4 to 6 feet away from the Officers and continuing to advance forward contrary to their commands. I don't know anything not in the story about the case but there are plenty of teenagers without prior criminal histories that have committed murder so, whether I was a cop or not, I would tend to believe that someone is dangerous if there own family members called up stating that said teenager had threatened his mother with a knife and he still had the knife when I arrived. I have no trouble believing the kid was a danger to others. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were certainly a danger to others.
I think from reading other things about the case at the time that Ritter must have said what the policeman James Turney told him, but other people at the scene said that Paul Childs was standing still in his own doorway and was not advancing when he was shot, that Turney was the one who advanced toward the door.
OK, I found
another link that's still good. Several other policemen, some of whom were armed with Tasers, came on the scene first and ordered the other people out of the home. Paul Child's mother met them at the security door and explained to them about her son Paul, "I told them, 'He's a special-needs child. Just talk to him and get the knife away."
Paul Childs was standing in his own doorway behind the closed security door and as soon as Turney arrived on the scene, he drew his weapon and advanced to the door and held it open with his foot. He ordered Paul Childs to drop the weapon he was clutching to his own chest and when Paul Childs did not, he shot him four times in the chest. Exactly 32 seconds elapsed between Turney's arrival on the scene and Turney calling for an ambulance after he shot Paul Childs four times in the chest. Turney was suspended for ten months for violating the department's policy by public safety manager Al LaCabe, a former police officer and former deputy district attorney, who wrote in his report: "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 was later overturned on appeal, but he was given a desk job when he returned to work.
