Family sues sheriff's office for man's death

Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press, Aug 13, 2007 by Donna Walter

The 1-year-old son of a man fatally shot by a Washington County sheriff's deputy last year is suing the sheriff's department and a deputy for wrongful death and excessive use of force.

Deputy Jason M. Louis shot 24-year-old John L. Turntine Jr. Sept. 3 outside his father's home in Irondale after he reportedly lunged at Louis with a kitchen knife.

Louis, who had been a law-enforcement officer for three years at the time of the shooting, fired once at Turntine, who spun and fell on his stomach about 28 feet away.

"You can confront deadly force with deadly force, but we don't believe the officer was confronted with deadly force," said David T. Butsch, of Green, Jacobson & Butsch in Clayton, who represents Turntine's son, identified in court documents only as "P.T."

An investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol concluded that Louis, who was 30 at the time, had acted properly. After reviewing the report, Washington County prosecutor John Rupp declined to press charges against him.

Ashley Wills, Turntine's fiancee, seeks more than $100,000 in the federal suit, which she filed Aug. 2 as the next friend of her and Turntine's son and as the personal representative of the estate. U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry has been assigned the case in the St. Louis-based federal court.

According to the highway patrol's report, Turntine had suffered from depression and previously tried to commit suicide. His sister Rochelle "Shelly" Rodgers called the sheriff's department the day he died, saying Turntine was "out of control" -- throwing and breaking things and yelling at Rodgers and their father.

According to the report, Rodgers said her brother was suicidal, and she feared he would kill her and the rest of their family.

Louis and Deputy Cassie Kobert responded to Rodgers' call about 14 minutes later. When they arrived, Turntine, fearing arrest, grabbed a kitchen knife and ran out the back door toward a nearby field. The lawsuit describes the knife as a "kitchen knife," but the highway patrol report calls it a "butcher knife."

According to the highway patrol report, Turntine was on probation at the time for receiving stolen property. His probation had been revoked, and Turntine was due to report to a faith-based disciplinary camp for about 14 months. But he refused to participate in the program, and the day he died he was looking at seven years in prison for the original charge, according to the highway patrol's report.

At the scene, the deputies failed to find Turntine during an initial 15-minute search. Louis walked out of the home alone to continue looking while Kobert talked with witnesses inside. Louis found Turntine lying face down in a field next to his father's property, the highway patrol report said.

The deputy told investigators that he approached Turntine and yelled repeatedly for him to roll over and show his hands. When Louis was about 15 or 20 feet away, Turntine rolled over, pulled out the knife and jumped to his feet, Louis reported. The deputy told investigators that he yelled for Turntine to drop the knife, and Turntine responded with: "I am going to die before I go back to jail."

Louis reportedly told Turntine, "We can get you help," but Turntine placed the knife against his own throat and threatened to kill himself, according to Louis' interview with the highway patrol.

Turntine, seeing Kobert approach, told Louis neither deputy would be going home if she came any closer, Louis told the highway patrol. At that point, Turntine raised the knife and took three quick steps toward Louis, according to the deputy, and he fired his Glock 22 .40- caliber service weapon at Turntine's chest. According to the highway patrol report, the doctor who performed Turntine's autopsy noted the downward angle of the bullet's trajectory and attributed that trajectory to Turntine starting to lunge when the bullet hit him.

Both the lawsuit and the highway patrol report agree that Turntine was more than 25 feet away from Louis when the shooting occurred. But the lawsuit alleges Turntine was also on the other side of a barbed-wire fence at the time. The report states that Louis had to cross a barbed-wire fence to get to the field where Louis found Turntine before the shooting.

The lawsuit also paints a different picture of Turntine's actions preceding the shooting. Instead of coming toward Louis with a raised butcher knife, Turntine was putting the kitchen knife on the ground, the complaint alleges.

"A couple witnesses have suggested that the guy was putting his hands up when this shot occurred," said Butsch, who didn't identify them.

Wills, Turntine's fiancee, told the highway patrol she thought she saw Turntine bending down to put the knife on the ground when he was shot.

Butsch also said the terrain was uneven in a way that would have made it impossible for Turntine to lunge at Louis.

"It wasn't that he was standing on a sidewalk or a city street," Butsch said. "It was in a field. If you go to the place where this incident occurred, it's a rutted farm field. There's trees and bushes around there."