Grand jury indicts Colorado sheriff's deputies in man's shooting death caught on bodycam video
A grand jury has indicted two Colorado sheriff's deputies in the death of a 22-year-old man who was shot after calling 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis, according to online court records.
The indictments of former Clear Creek County Sheriff's deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were returned Wednesday, five months after Christian Glass was killed by law enforcement. The case has become a flashpoint amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention and de-escalation.
Charges against the two deputies include second-degree murder, official misconduct, and criminally negligent homicide, according to the court records, which did not provide further details.
The records did not list a lawyer for either deputy. A telephone message left at a number believed to be Buen's was not immediately returned. No telephone listing could be found for Gould.
"Today's decision by a Grand Jury to indict Mr. Andrew Buen and Mr. Kyle Gould, follows months of a painstaking investigation by a team of dedicated investigators and careful consideration by members of our community empaneled to serve on a Grand Jury," the Clear Creek Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
A federal judge issued warrants for both Buen and Gould, who face bonds of $50,000 and $2,500 respectively, according a press release from Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum, who empaneled the grand jury.
Nichole Lentz, spokesperson for the Clear Creek County Sheriff, said in a statement that both officers have been terminated following the indictments.
The sheriff office's ongoing internal investigation found "policy and procedural failures," Lentz said, adding that the office's initial news release following the shooting "does not reflect the entirety of what happened on that terrible night."
Late 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 is "terrified" and making heart shapes with his hands to officers.
Officers talked to him to try to persuade him to leave the car. After more than an hour of negotiations, police said Glass was being uncooperative and they broke the passenger window and removed a knife from the vehicle.
Glass told the emergency dispatcher he had two knives, a hammer and a rubber mallet, CBS Colorado reported. His family's attorneys say that's because he was an amateur geologist.
Glass offered to throw two knives out of the window but the video shows officers telling him not to.
Once the window was shattered, Glass seemed to panic and grabbed a second knife. Police then shot Glass with bean bag rounds and shocked him with a stun gun. The footage shows Glass twisting in his seat and thrusting a knife toward an officer who approaches the rear driver window. Then another officer fired his gun, hitting Glass six times, according to the autopsy report.
Glass' parents released a statement through their attorney, Siddhartha Rathod: "Nothing will bring Christian back to his family. Simon and Sally Glass are relieved appropriate charges have been brought against some of those responsible for the murder of their son. However, justice for Christian will require all those involved being held accountable. Christian's death is a stain on every officer who was present and failed to prevent the escalation and unnecessary uses of force."
During a September news conference, Glass's mother, Sally Glass, 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.