… Specifics of any plea deal were not divulged in court. District Court Judge Catherine Cheroutes continued the hearing to Nov. 2 to allow defense counsel an opportunity to discuss the potential plea bargain with their clients.
[Christian Glass] died June 11, as he was stranded in his car near Silver Plume. He had called 9-1-1 for help, saying he was trapped and his car was stuck.
Officers asked Glass to leave his car, but he refused in what turned into a long standoff that ended when officers broke the car window and used a Taser on Glass. Former Clear Creek County Deputy Buen shot Glass five times, killing him, according to an indictment.
Glass was not armed and there was no reason to believe he would have been a danger to any law enforcement personnel, to himself or to any member of the public, the indictment said.
“The decision to remove him from the vehicle directly lead to the death of Mr. Glass,” the indictment said.
Then-Sgt. Gould was in contact via cellphone with Buen during the standoff, the indictment said. It goes on to say during the cellphone conversation, Buen muted his body-worn camera audio. The conversation was not recorded.
A civil suit resulted in a $19-million settlement between Glass’ family and four agencies, including the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office. In a court-ordered apology as part of the settlement, former Sheriff Rick Albers blamed officers who “failed to meet expectations.”
Too bad some people do put their hands up and are shot anyway. Or shot for following other directions.
Telling people to just follow the police directions are glazing over the fact that the directions are often shouted and hard to understand, contradictory to themselves, and people get shot even when complying.