Death of New Zealand man shot by cops will be probed by Colorado investigators
Colorado investigators launch probe into the death of New Zealand man, 22, shot five times by police after calling 911 then making heart-shaped signals: Family calls for officers to be charged
- The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into the fatal shooting of Christian Glass in June 2022
- Glass was shot by Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputies after crashing his car on a rural road in Denver and calling 911
- Clear Creek County Sheriff Rick Albers said that a crisis response team will now be established in the county to attend to those facing mental health issues
- The case is expected to be sent to a grand jury by prosecutor Heidi McCollum to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against officers
A major investigation team has launched a probe into the shooting of a New Zealand man who was killed by cops after he called them.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has taken over the inquiry into the death of Christian Glass, 22, after he was shot dead in Clear Creek County in June.
Sheriff Rick Albers said he would establish a crisis response team for the county in addition to co-operating with the new CBI investigation.
Glass was driving alone on a rural road when his car became stuck ‘on a small pile of rocks’ and called 911 for help.
After an hour-long stand-off in which Glass brandished a knife and made heart-shaped signals with his hands, he was tasered and shot five times.
His devastated family previously blasted the force and called for the officers involved to face criminal charges.
Christian Glass, 22, was driving alone on a rural road in June when his car became stuck ‘on a small pile of rocks’ and called 911 for help
Glass, 22, was shot by officers after an hour-long stand off in which he refused to get out of his car and brandished a knife
The CBI is a division within the Colorado Department of Public Safety that performs criminal investigations ‘independently’ of smaller local law enforcement agencies.
Sheriff Rick Albers said: ‘It is our intention to maintain the integrity and transparency of the investigation and by doing that we must be impartial.
‘With that, our obligation is and was to turn the investigation to an independent outside agency, the CBI.’
Clear Creek County District Attorney Heidi McCollum is expected to send the case to a grand jury to establish whether criminal charges should be filed against Sherrif’s deputy Andrew Buen who fired the fatal shots.
Glass’s parents, Sally and Simon Glass (left), labelled their son’s death ‘murder’ and have been calling for an investigation into police misconduct
In June Glass called 911 in distress and told an operator that he was scared and needed help getting out of his car after getting it stuck while driving on a rural road.
He told the 911 operator that he could throw some geology tools out of the car’s window, including knives and a rubber mallet, but the officer declined.
When Clear Creek County Sheriff’s deputies showed up and found Glass in his car he refused to get out for over an hour and was waving one of the knives around and using it to harm himself.
Body cam footage shows the moment officers approached Glass, who called for help in getting his car out of a bush.
‘Please, push me out, drag me out, I’ll follow you to a police station,’ Glass told the officers. ‘I’m so scared.’
After more than an hour sheriff’s deputies broke his car windows, tasered him and shot him with a bean bag gun.
He then waved the knife around stabbed himself before being fatally shot. An autopsy report released last month shows he was struck by five bullets and had superficial knife wounds.
Glass said he was scared to get out of his car as police surrounded him. One officer stood on the hood of his car (pictured) as others urged him to exit
Once Glass grabbed a knife, the officers fired bean bag rounds and tasered him. After stabbing himself and swinging wildly, officers then fired five shots into the car
Officers broke through the window and pulled Glass out from the vehicle
Lawyers for the Glass family said: ‘Had a crisis response team been in place in June of 2022, Christian would be alive today.
‘None of the deputies involved in Christian’s murder have been disciplined and the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office deputy who shot and killed Christian is still on the street in uniform.’
After the shooting it was found that Glass had alcohol, cannabis and amphetamines in his body when he was killed.
Glass’s parents, Sally and Simon, say their son took Ritalin for his ADHD which may have explained the presence of amphetamines in his system.
Simon and Sally Glass demanded accountability for their son’s death, saying that the officers who shot him should be sacked
Simon and Sally Glass considered the death of their son Christian murder. They called for an investigation into the conduct of the officers
Lawyers for the Glass family, Qusair Mohamedbhai and Siddhartha Rathod, said that Buen was back on patrol within days of the shooting.
His father said that his son had ‘trusted’ that the police would help him, adding: ‘Instead they attacked and killed him.’
After the shooting the sheriff’s department released a statement saying Glass was shot after becoming ‘argumentative and uncooperative’ and that he tried to stab one of the officers after they came through the window.
The deputy who killed Glass feared he was going to stab a police marshal who was on one side of the car during the incident, a member of the sheriff’s department told CPR News.
The launch of this CBI investigation comes after repeated demands from Glass’s parents that the Clear Creek County Sheriff take the ‘murder’ seriously.