22-year-old posed no threat to police before Colorado cop killed him, law enforcement review finds

The Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed 22-year-old Christian Glass last year had no reason to use any force on Glass because he posed no lethal threat and there was no legal reason to detain him, a law enforcement review of the killing found.

Former Clear Creek County Deputy Andrew Buen violated multiple agency policies and made several errors while responding to the June 11 call for help from Glass, according to a 72-page review of the incident by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office released Wednesday.

Buen also failed to de-escalate his interactions with Glass, failed to give warnings before using less-lethal force on Glass and — along with other officers on scene — failed to create space between himself and Glass after Glass picked up a knife.

“With there being no probable cause to place Mr. Glass on a (mental health hold) and state statute providing the opportunity to leave Mr. Glass sitting alone in his vehicle, any force used to remove him from the vehicle would be unreasonable and would not fall within CCCSO policy and procedure,” the review found.

Clear Creek County Sheriff Rick Albers on Nov. 3 requested the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office conduct the internal affairs investigation into Buen. The Clear Creek agency did not open an investigation itself in the aftermath of the fatal shooting.

Glass’ parents released the body camera footage of the shooting in September, prompting a criminal investigation and international media attention. Law enforcement would have swept the killing under the rug had the family not made it public and pressed for more information, Sally Glass said in an interview Thursday.

“I don’t want them to get away with this,” she said.

A grand jury in November indicted Buen and Kyle Gould, the supervisor who approved the decision to remove Glass from the vehicle. Buen is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment, while Gould faces charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

Both men were fired from the sheriff’s office after they were indicted.

“Their independent investigation reaffirms the failure of policy and training that resulted in Mr. Buen’s termination,” the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “The detailed, unbiased investigation confirmed that Mr. Buen was not within CCCSO policy and procedures were not followed when Mr. Buen used deadly force against Mr. Christian Glass. The 72-page report painstakingly details Mr. Glass’s tragic loss of life, the excessive force against Mr. Glass, mistakes, and outright failures.”

Glass’ parents questioned why none of the other officers on scene were investigated for their involvement in their son’s death; the Douglas County probe focused on Buen. Their attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, noted that it’s a crime in Colorado for a peace officer to fail to intervene in another officer’s excessive use of force.

The officers — not Glass — created a dangerous situation, he said.

“Each and every one of these officers failed,” Rathod said.

“Not in a physical position to kill anyone”

Glass died at the scene June 11 in Silver Plume. He had called 911 for help after crashing his car on a berm while experiencing a mental health crisis. Buen and six other law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies spoke with Glass for more than an hour to try to coax him from the driver’s seat of his car before deciding to physically remove him to place him on a mental health hold.

With approval from Gould, Buen broke out the front passenger window, which prompted Glass to start to scream and pick up a knife he had in the car. Buen shocked Glass with a Taser and shot him with less-lethal bean bags when Glass failed to follow officers’ commands to drop the knife.

Glass turned in his seat and swiped the knife through the broken rear driver’s side window, where Georgetown police Marshal Randy Williams stood. Buen then fired five rounds at Glass, killing him.

The Douglas County investigation noted that Glass never made any suicidal or homicidal comments until officers started using a Taser on him and shooting him with bean bags. While being shot with bean bags and being shocked, Glass told officers that he would kill them if they didn’t stop.

“It would be reasonable to believe Mr. Glass would make extreme statements under this level of duress,” the report states.

The Douglas County investigator wrote that none of the other six officers on scene fired at Glass, even though several had a better view of Glass’ movement toward Williams. One of the officers on scene said she believed Glass could’ve only cut Williams’ hands.

“Mr. Glass was not in a physical position to kill anyone… it would have been physically improbable for him to cause any injury to Chief Williams,” the report states.

Glass wouldn’t have posed any threat to officers had Buen not broken out the window of the vehicle, the investigation states.

“Prior to the rear driver’s side passenger window being broken by a less-lethal shotgun round, Mr. Glass would have had to take significant steps to pose and imminent danger to any officer on scene,” the report states. “Up to and including retrieving his knife, exiting the vehicle, and gaining enough proximity to an officer to inflict physical harm on them.”

One of the officers, Idaho Springs police Officer Brittney Morrow, told investigators she was surprised Buen’s bullets didn’t hit Williams.

An empty chair at the table

Neither of Glass’ parents believed the first version of events published by the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office shortly after the shooting. It didn’t make sense that their gentle, empathetic son would attack police officers, but that was the only information they had. They buried their son without knowing what actually happened that day.

“We just said it was a terrible accident,” Sally Glass said.

Glass was a curious, busy child who built civilizations in the sandbox and as a toddler tried to take his sisters’ toys apart to figure out how they work. As an adult, he retained his curiosity about life, his parents said. He loved long drives in his Honda Pilot and discussing the deep questions of life.

He had a deep sense of justice and didn’t like sitting still, they said. He went to culinary school and worked 50 to 60 hours a week as a chef, but was starting to look into coding classes so he could work less and focus more on his art.

Glass would’ve turned 23 on Tuesday. Every time his dad Simon sees a maroon Honda Pilot he thinks of his son. Sally is reminded of him whenever she sees young men around his age doing the regular things he can’t do anything anymore — jogging or just having fun.

“He’s not going to get to do any of that anymore,” she said.

Glass, who is survived by two sisters, was the only grandson on either side of the family. Sally’s dad can’t handle hearing his name. She’s had to practice how to respond to questions about how many children she has — how does she explain during small talk how her son died?

“There are still five chairs around the dining room table,” Sally Glass said.