CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. —
The former Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office deputy who shot and killed 22-year-old Christian Glass nearly two years ago will not testify in his own defense.
Former Deputy Andrew Buen is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment.
On Monday, the jury heard from two witnesses for the defense. One, a police tactics expert, testified that Buen’s use of lethal force was reasonable, and that Glass was a threat to officers when he wielded a knife inside his locked car.
Prosecutors say Glass called 911 for help after he got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume in June 2022. He appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis when several officers engaged with him for more than an hour. Buen then broke Glass' car window, shot him with bean bag rounds and used a Taser on him before shooting him five times in the chest.
An 'armed resistant'
Former police officer turned police tactics expert Lewis “Von” Kliem told the jury Glass continued to be a threat even after Buen shot him five times because he did not stop moving or drop the knife immediately.
“He did not succumb to his injuries until a time later. And so those five shots were actually ineffective at immediately and decisively stopping the threat,” Kliem said.
Christian Glass’s father Simon sat in the courtroom shaking, with his face in his hands, as Kliem testified that he believed Glass was not afraid the night of his death.
“He said to Deputy Collins, ‘You're not going to shoot me, are you?’ Correct? And that's not indicative that he had fear of being injured?” Deputy District Attorney Stephen Potts asked.
“He might have felt like he was afraid of being shot. I don't know why he felt that way,” Kliem replied.
Kliem said Glass could have been detained for non-compliance after he did not follow officers’ orders to get out of his car. He also said Glass became an “armed resistant” and a larger threat to police once he picked up the knife in his car, even without a verbal threat.
Kliem also testified that it was reasonable for Buen to believe that there was opportunity for Glass to inflict death or serious bodily injury when he reached back toward Georgetown Marshall Randy Williams with the knife. At the time, Williams was standing near the back driver’s side window, which had been broken by a less-lethal shotgun round. Glass was reaching over from the driver’s seat.
While he said that officers could infer Glass’s intent to cause harm from the stabbing motion of his hand, he admitted he could not have known what Glass was thinking in the moment.
“I don't know what his actual intent was,” Kliem said.
Kliem said that the use of less-lethal force, including the bean bag rounds and Tasers, were reasonable. He also said that it would have been against generally accepted police practices to let Glass throw his weapons out of the car when he offered to do so.
Kliem said he could not determine whether Glass was experiencing a mental health crisis or whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, as the defense has previously suggested.
Last week, police reform expert Seth Stoughton told the jury that whether Glass was experiencing a mental health crisis, or high, or drunk, he was still in crisis. He testified that Buen should never have fired his gun.
Stoughton said there was no reason for any officer on the scene that night to try to remove Glass from his car, even on the grounds of putting him in an involuntary mental health hold.
In contrast to Kliem, “There's nothing that would establish probable cause of an imminent threat of substantial harm, physical harm to other people,” he said.
The question of whether Buen’s use of lethal force was excessive and unreasonable is up to the jury to decide.
A mystery substance
The defense called a second witness, Jacob Evans, to identify photographs of evidence he had taken on a visit to Glass’s car. He and Buen’s attorneys had gone to view the car once it was towed.
Evans identified a series of photos he took of items in Glass' car including large sticks, pens, a pink knife, scissors, stickers referencing vape shops, rocks, pliers, a box cutter and what looked like a bloodstained marijuana joint. Many of those items could have been tools for rock collection or Glass' artwork, two interests his mother testified to last week. Sally Glass said her son was returning from an art trip to Moab the night of his death.
Evans identified photos of what he told the jury were empty containers that were labeled as marijuana canisters. He had also taken pictures of a small plastic bag containing what appeared to be white powder.
Evans testified that he did not test the substance in the bag to see what it was. While the defense suggested it could have been drugs, prosecutors argued it could have been residue from vapor stones, which are used like essential oils. They implied the bag could have been attached to a tag Evans photographed that was labeled “vapor stones” used for essential oil vaporizers.
The defense is set to call more witnesses as the trial continues Tuesday.
Case history
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 watched 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.
The 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office offered plea deals to both former Clear Creek deputies in September 2023.
Gould pleaded guilty that November 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.
Later that November, the DA’s office charged all six other officers on scene the night of Glass’ death for failing to intervene.
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.
View a full timeline of events in this case here:
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