Six additional Colorado officers face charges stemming from 2022 fatal shooting of Christian Glass
One day after a former Colorado sheriff’s deputy accepted a plea agreement for his role in the 2022 death of a man who called 911 for roadside assistance, the district attorney’s office announced charges for the six other deputies who were at the scene.
“Law enforcement officers must be held accountable for their actions when performing their trusted public service duties,” Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum said in a statement Friday announcing the charges.
Christian Glass, 22, was armed with a knife and fatally shot by police last year after calling 911 for roadside assistance, according to authorities.
Georgetown Police Marshal Randy Williams is facing charges of duty to intervene and third-degree assault.
Five other officers who were at the scene – Georgetown police officer Timothy Collins, Idaho Springs police officer Brittany Morrow, Colorado State Trooper Ryan Bennie and Gaming Division officers Christa Lloyd and Mary J. Harris – are all facing duty to intervene charges.
The six law enforcement officials are scheduled for a summons hearing on December 12.
CNN is working to determine whether any of the officers have retained attorneys.
CNN has reached out to the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police for comment on the charges.
On Thursday, former Clear Creek County deputy Kyle Gould was sentenced to probation as the result of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors and the victim’s parents.
Gould pleaded guilty to “duty to report use of force by peace officers – duty to intervene,” a class-one misdemeanor, and will serve two years of unsupervised probation as well as pay a $1000 fine.
Had the case gone to trial, Gould would have faced charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
“Our son, Christian Glass, 22 years old, called 911 for help after his car became stuck on some rocks,” Glass’ father, Simon Glass, began his statement to the court.
Glass called Gould’s conduct “inexcusable,” and said his authorization for the officers on scene to make entry into his son’s car led to his death.
Sally Glass spoke after her husband, saying, “I hope that Mr. Gould now, throughout his life, will think about being kinder and more compassionate to people that are in trouble.”
Through his attorney, Gould expressed to the court he did not want to take the case to trial out of respect for the Glass family and a desire to move forward.
The second officer charged in Glass’ death, Andrew Buen, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment.
Buen’s next hearing is scheduled for December 20.
Buen and Gould were the former Clear Creek County deputies who responded to Glass’s 911 call in Silver Plume, Colorado, CNN previously reported. They have both since been fired.
The 22-year-old’s family and attorneys have said he was experiencing a mental health episode when he made the call shortly before 11:30 p.m. on June 10, 2022.
Glass can be heard on 911 call audio telling a dispatcher he had a weapon on him. “I will throw them out the window as soon as an officer gets here,” Glass said, adding he had two knives, a hammer and a rubber mallet.
According to the sheriff’s office, when deputies arrived, Glass “immediately became argumentative and uncooperative with the deputies and had armed himself with a knife.”
The incident was captured on body camera footage, which showed Glass offering to toss the weapons from the vehicle and one of the responding deputies telling him not to. The video also showed deputies asking the driver to leave the car several times.
He was shot more than an hour after deputies arrived, and he died at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
Glass’s family, who have said the knives he had were artistic carving tools, reached settlements in May totaling $19 million with the county, the town of Georgetown, the state of Colorado and the city of Idaho Springs, according to the family’s attorneys.
The settlements from the state and three municipalities with law enforcement officers who were involved did not admit liability.
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