CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — A former Clear Creek County Sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty to two charges on Thursday related to the death of Christian Glass.
Kyle Gould pleaded guilty to "duty to report use of force by peace officers - duty to intervene."
The charge is a class 1 misdemeanor. Gould had originally been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.
Judge Catherine Cheroutes accepted Gould's plea and sentenced him to two years unsupervised probation and ordered him 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.
In June 2022, Christian Glass got his car stuck on a boulder in Silver Plume and called 911 for help. He appeared to be in the midst of mental health crisis as he interacted with several law enforcement officers for over an hour.
Gould was not at the scene that night, but rather watching the situation via a live-streamed body worn camera. He gave the order for Glass' driver's side window to be broken out, according to court documents.
"Pursuant to the statute and pursuant to the requirements, Mr. Gould, along with the other officers present at the scene, had an obligation to intervene to prevent excessive use of force, which did in fact occur resulting in the death of Mr. Glass," Gould's attorney said in court Thursday.
"He has shown responsibility by taking this plea," 5th Judicial District Deputy District Attorney Stephen Potts said. "Mr. Gould, while he wasn't physically present, his authority was present. His ability to effectuate change in the circumstances that result in a Christian's death was present. And that's why we're here."
"If Mr. Gould had just said, 'Hey, wait, sit in your car, go sit down. Mr. Glass isn't going anywhere. Wait for me to get there.' And then had gotten there and seen what was actually going on with the circumstances that were present at the time, we wouldn't be here today," Potts said.
Christian Glass's parents, Simon and Sally Glass, were in the courtroom for Gould's hearing. Both wore pink, their son's favorite color.
In the hearing, Simon Glass called Gould's actions after his son's death "inexcusable." The initial release from the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office omitted important information surrounding Christian's death, said he "immediately became argumentative" and claimed he'd armed himself with a knife. The body camera video told a different story.
"Those lies caused us untold pain. Christian's funerals were marred by these lies. Instead of grieving, and perhaps celebrating his short life, we were just stunned and confused," Simon Glass said in court Thursday.
Gould's attorney Bob Weiner argued there was no cover up.
"I could sit here and debate with this court some of the facts of this case, but we're not going to do that," Weiner said. "We've accepted responsibility. Mr. Gould is giving up his right to be a peace officer and doesn't want to fight this out of respect for the Glass family."
Sally Glass stood before the judge with a heart shaped rock in her hands. It's the same rock Christian had with him when he was killed. She told the court she carries it with her always.
"Our son was a nice kid, and they killed a good kid. And I hope that Mr. Gould now, throughout his life, well, the thing about being kinder, and more compassionate to people that are in trouble," Sally Glass said.
"He says Mr. Gould wants to move on and move on with his life," Sally Glass said outside court once the hearing was over. "We were like, lucky for him, he gets to move on with his life. We're just trapped in this pain."
"He could just close the door and move on. We can never move on, because we've lost our son forever," she said. "I've been working on forgiveness, and kindness, and compassion, and there's no point being vindictive because you can stick Mr. Gould in jail, but obviously it's not going to bring Christian back."
"It's been, I think, 17 months now that we've been waiting for justice. Today was the first admission of guilt by anybody there," Simon Glass said.
Now-former Clear Creek County Sheriff's deputy Andrew Buen knocked out Glass' window, shot him with bean bag rounds, and used a Taser on him before shooting Glass five times in the chest. Buen was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment. He's pleaded not guilty in the case.
The 5th Judicial District Attorney's Office said both Gould and Buen were offered plea deals in the case.
In May, 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.
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