Six Colorado police officers who were present when distressed motorist Christian Glass was shot dead have been charged for failing to intervene.
Glass, 22, was shot five times and killed last year in Georgetown after calling 911 for help and then refusing to get out of his car in an hour-long standoff because he was ‘terrified.’
Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were indicted on second-degree murder charges last year, and now every other officer on the scene when Glass was killed has also been charged for their role.
Police have now charged Georgetown Marshal Randy Williams with two misdemeanor counts – failure to intervene and third-degree assault.
Former deputy Timothy Collins, Division of Gaming Officers Christa Lloyd and Mary J Harris, Idaho Springs officer Brittany Morrow, and state trooper Ryan Bennie have been charged with one count of failure to intervene.
On June 10, Glass called the police because his car had become stuck on an embankment. Body camera videos show Glass refusing to get out of his car while telling police he was ‘terrified’ and making heart shapes with his hands to officers
Former Clear Creek deputy Buen, who was also offered a plea deal, was the one to break Glass’ window and shoot him. He is awaiting trial
On Thursday, Gould plead guilty to ‘duty to report use of force by peace officers – duty to intervene – a class 1 misdemeanor. He was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and can’t work as a police officer in Colorado ever again.
Gould was not at the scene when Glass was killed but gave the order to break the driver side’s window as he watched the incident from a live-streamed bodycam.
Former Clear Creek deputy Buen, who was also offered a plea deal, was the one to break Glass’ window and shoot him with bean bag rounds before tasing him and shooting him five times in the chest. He has plead not guilty to second-degree murder and is awaiting trial.
Both Gould and Buen were fired after they were indicted last year.
Gould negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge of failure to intervene, a crime created in police reform legislation passed during protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It is punishable by up to 364 days in jail but the deal called for Gould to get a sentence of probation.
Georgetown Police Marshal Randolph Williams is seen at the scene. He has been charged with failure to intervene and third-degree assault
Gould entered his plea and was sentenced as the parents of Christian Glass, Sally and Simon Glass, watched in court in Idaho Springs.
A statement released by their lawyers expressed support for prosecutors and noted that Gould had taken responsibility for his role in their son’s death.
‘The Glass family hopes that the greater law enforcement community learns from this prosecution and makes changes to their policies and cultures to prevent this type of tragedy in the future,’ it said.
Glass, from New Zealand, had called 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis in June 2022. He refused to get out of his car because he was ‘terrified’ and made heart-shaped signs with his hands, and flashed a knife at the deputies.
Officers talked to him to try to persuade him to leave the car. After roughly an hour of negotiations, officers decided to breach the car even though there was no indication that Glass posed a danger or was suspected of a crime, the indictment said.
Once the window was smashed, body camera footage shows officers peppering Glass with bean bag rounds, then tasing him. Glass brandished a knife in ‘a state of complete panic and self-defense’ before twisting in his seat to thrust a knife in an officer’s direction, according to the indictment. Buen then fired his gun five times into Glass.
At the time Glass’s mother Sally said her son suffered from depression, had recently been diagnosed with ADHD and was ‘having a mental health episode’ and was ‘petrified’ the night he was killed.
At court this week, she said: ‘Our son was a nice kid, and they killed a good kid. And I hope that Mr. Gould now, throughout his life, well, to think about being kinder, and more compassionate to people that are in trouble.’
Earlier this year, Glass’ parents won a $19 million settlement that included policy changes including crisis intervention training for officers responding to people in distress.