CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — A judge on Monday granted a motion to drop failure to intervene charges against two Division of Gaming officers who were among those on scene the night Christian Glass was shot and killed. This decision was based on a technicality in the law rather than the officers' conduct.
Glass, 22, called 911 for help on the night of June 22, 2022, after his SUV got stuck on a rock near Silver Plume. Two Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office deputies were the first to respond, but eventually, six others showed up at intermittent times and stayed as Glass became more and more agitated.
Glass never left his car during the hourlong incident, which ended with his shooting death.
The Division of Gaming officers were among six charged with failure to intervene after none of them stepped forward to stop the situation as it escalated out of control. One sergeant with the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office pleaded guilty in November 2023. The other three cases, involving a Georgetown police marshal, Idaho Springs police officer, and Colorado State trooper, have yet to be tried.
In her ruling, Clear Creek County Court Judge Cynthia Jones said she granted to motion to drop the charges because the statute requiring "peace officers" to intervene to stop excessive force does not apply to Division of Gaming officers.
Siddhartha Rathod, the attorney representing the Glass family, expressed frustration over the ruling.
“The Division of Gaming officers weren’t dismissed because their conduct wasn’t criminal,” he said. “They were dismissed because of a loophole in the statute.”
Rathod said that both Division of Gaming officers are POST-certified police officers with the authority to arrest and perform law enforcement duties. According to the Colorado Division of Gaming’s mission statement, its investigators “have the powers of peace officers and are certified as such.” Despite this, the law does not hold them to the same standard as officers from other agencies.
“Shouldn’t we hold all law enforcement officers to the same standards?” Rathod asked.
He argued that the officers’ certification and their active participation in law enforcement activities should have made them accountable under the failure-to-intervene statute. In a statement to 9NEWS, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Revenue and the Division of Gaming said both officers continue to hold their positions as investigators.
In response to questions about expectations for their certified peace officers, they said, "Colorado Department of Revenue requires all of our POST-certified peace officers to undergo ongoing de-escalation, use of force, and intervention training to better equip themselves with the strategies, tactics, and tools needed to intervene in future situations."
The spokesperson expressed condolences to Christian Glass' family and outlined steps it has taken to enhance officer training and accountability since the incident in 2022. This includes a new best practices manual, the implementation of the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) program, and scenario-based de-escalation training.
Case history
Prosecutors said Glass was experiencing a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help after he got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume in June 2022. Several officers engaged with him for more than an hour. After officers unsuccessfully tried to get Glass out of his car, former Clear Creek County Deputy Andrew Buen broke Glass' car window, shot him with bean bag rounds and used a Taser on him before shooting him five times in the chest.
In November 2022, a Clear Creek grand jury indicted Buen, alongside his supervisor, former Clear Creek deputy Kyle Gould, who wasn’t at the scene that night. According to court documents, Gould was watching the encounter with Glass via a live-streamed body-worn camera. He then gave the order for Glass' driver's side window to be broken out.
Buen was charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct, and reckless endangerment. In an April trial, a jury could only unanimously agree to the last, and least serious, charge. They deadlocked on the other two. Buen will go to trial again in February.
Gould pleaded guilty in November 2023 to duty to report use of force by peace officers - duty to intervene. He was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. As part of the plea agreement, Gould withdrew his POST certification and cannot work as a police officer or security guard in Colorado ever again.
The DA’s office charged all six other officers on scene the night of Glass’s death for failing to intervene last November. The other cases have yet to be tried.
In May 2023, the Glass family was awarded $19 million in a settlement agreement with Clear Creek County, the Colorado State Patrol, the Georgetown Police Department and the Idaho Springs Police Department – all departments with officers on scene that night. Among the many non-economic terms of the settlement, Clear Creek County has implemented a crisis response team to respond to calls. It is the largest police misconduct settlement in Colorado history.
Rathod emphasized that Monday’s ruling underscores systemic issues in law enforcement accountability.
“This isn’t just a loophole,” he said. “These Division of Gaming officers could have saved Christian's life.”
View a full timeline of events in this case here: