He was 22 years old, stuck on a mountain road near Silver Plume, Colorado, and frightened. Instead of receiving calm roadside assistance, Glass was surrounded by officers, pressured to leave his vehicle, subjected to escalating force, and ultimately shot and killed by then-Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Buen.
The killing happened in June 2022 after Glass’s SUV became stuck. Reports and court records described Glass as being in distress and showing signs of a mental health crisis. He remained inside his vehicle and repeatedly refused to get out, telling officers he was scared. What began as a call for help turned into a prolonged police standoff.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, prosecutors accused Buen of needlessly escalating the encounter. Officers used bean bag rounds and a Taser before Buen fired the fatal shots. Glass never got the help he originally called 911 to request.
A stranded man became a police target
Glass was not wanted for a violent crime. He was not fleeing police. He was stuck, scared, and in crisis. Yet the response became increasingly forceful as officers demanded that he leave the SUV.
The case became a national example of how a law enforcement response to someone in distress can turn deadly when officers treat fear and confusion as defiance. An independent review reported by Colorado Public Radio found that Buen unnecessarily escalated what began as a non-threatening call for help.
After the shooting, Glass’s family pushed for accountability and released body-camera footage that drew widespread public outrage. The footage undercut the idea that this was a simple split-second threat assessment. It showed a long, tense police response that officers had time to slow down, reassess, and de-escalate.
Andrew Buen was convicted
Buen was fired after being indicted in connection with Glass’s death. His first trial ended with a reckless endangerment conviction, but jurors deadlocked on the more serious charges. Prosecutors retried him.
In February 2025, a jury convicted Buen of criminally negligent homicide. In April 2025, he was sentenced to three years in prison, the maximum sentence for that conviction, according to the Associated Press.
Buen was not convicted of second-degree murder. But the criminally negligent homicide conviction still confirmed what Glass’s family and many observers had argued from the beginning: this was not merely a tragic accident. It was a police killing that the justice system determined involved criminal conduct.
Supervisor Kyle Gould also pleaded guilty
Kyle Gould, a former Clear Creek County sheriff’s supervisor who was monitoring the incident remotely, also faced charges. In November 2023, Gould pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for ignoring his duties to intervene and report use of force. He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, fined $1,000, and barred from working in law enforcement or security in Colorado, according to The Colorado Sun.
Gould’s plea was another reminder that the killing of Christian Glass was not only about the deputy who pulled the trigger. It was also about the supervisors and officers who had the opportunity to stop the escalation and failed to do so.
A $19 million settlement and promised reforms
In May 2023, Glass’s parents reached a $19 million settlement with Clear Creek County, the State of Colorado, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs. At the time, it was described as the largest known police settlement in Colorado history. The settlement also required reforms, including crisis intervention training and a crisis response team in Clear Creek County, according to The Colorado Sun.
No settlement can bring Christian Glass back. But the size of the settlement and the reforms attached to it showed how badly the system failed him.
Other officer cases were later dismissed
Several other officers from different agencies were also charged with failure to intervene. Some charges were dismissed after officers agreed to participate in training-related resolutions, including a video about what went wrong and how officers should respond to people experiencing a crisis. By July 2025, the final remaining officer-related case had been dismissed, according to Denver7.
That outcome may be deeply unsatisfying to anyone who watched the case unfold. But the public record is still clear: Christian Glass called for help, officers escalated the encounter, Buen killed him, and Buen was later convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
The real warning from Christian Glass’s death
The killing of Christian Glass stands as another example of police turning a call for assistance into a fatal confrontation. A young man in distress needed patience, distance, time, and trained crisis response. Instead, he got commands, force, broken glass, and bullets.
Christian Glass should be alive. His death exposed how quickly officers can transform fear into a perceived threat, then use that perceived threat to justify deadly force. The conviction of Andrew Buen matters, but it does not erase the failure that came before the gunfire.
Sources:
- Associated Press: Former Colorado deputy gets 3 years in prison for fatally shooting man who called for help
- Associated Press: Former Colorado sheriff’s deputy convicted of homicide in shooting death of man in crisis
- The Colorado Sun: Family of Christian Glass gets $19 million settlement
- The Colorado Sun: Clear Creek County sheriff’s supervisor pleads guilty
- Colorado Public Radio: Independent review found Buen unnecessarily escalated the call
- Denver7: Charges dropped against final law enforcement officer in Christian Glass case
