CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. —
A key witness in several high-profile police misconduct cases told a jury Thursday that the former Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office deputy who killed Christian Glass nearly two years ago should never have fired his gun.
In fact, he said police officers on scene that night did nearly everything wrong.
Seth Stoughton was on the stand for nearly nine hours on Thursday in the trial of Andrew Buen, who is charged in the death of 22-year-old Christian Glass.
Stoughton is a celebrity figure in the world of police reform.
A law professor at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law, Stoughton specializes in criminal law and police policies, procedures and tactics. A former police officer, Stoughton also develops and delivers courses for police executives.
He’s testified in highly publicized trials, including the criminal trial of Derek Chauvin who was ultimately convicted in the death of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. Stoughton said that Floyd was not a threat in that case – and he said the threat Glass presented to officers was “less than none.”
Unreasonable and Excessive
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.
“There's nothing that would establish probable cause of an imminent threat of substantial harm, physical harm to other people,” he told the jury.
Prosecutors said 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.
Buen is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct, and reckless endangerment. Stoughton says he should have never fired his gun.
“Were any lethal shots required to be fired in this case?” Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum asked.
“Not in my view, no,” Stoughton replied.
Stoughton went even further — he told the jury there was no reason for Buen to have fired nonlethal bean bag shots, either. There was also no reason for Buen or Georgetown Marshall Randy Williams to deploy Tasers to try and incapacitate Glass.
He said Glass was “about the most minor imminent threat we can define in policing. Use of force is about balancing the officers’ actions against the subject’s actions.” Every officer’s use-of-force decision made the situation worse, Stoughton testified.
“All of them were predictively counterproductive under the circumstances in this case,” Stoughton said. “And all of them were inconsistent with generally accepted police principles and practices.”
Defense attorney Carrie Slinkard’s claim that the rocks, knives and various items in Glass’ car posed a threat to officers was unreasonable, Stoughton said. Glass was inside his car with the windows rolled up.
“Crystals, rocks and knives are melee weapons and not a danger because he was enclosed inside of the car," he said.
“Was Deputy Buen's use of lethal force unreasonable, excessive and contrary to generally accepted police practices?” McCollum asked.
“Yes, it was,” Stoughton answered.
A mental health crisis or under the influence?
Stoughton maintained in his testimony that Glass was in a state of crisis, which meant a reasonable officer should have recognized that Glass’ actions would be unpredictable.
“When you're interacting with someone who's in crisis, yelling commands could predictably be counterproductive. It could actually make that situation worse,” he said.
Given that, Stoughton called Buen’s focus on getting Glass out of the car a “tactical mistake.”
Slinkard disagreed.
She challenged the idea that officers knew that Glass was having a mental health crisis.
Slinkard pointed out drug paraphernalia found in Glass’ car, suggesting he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Had it been a DUI case rather than a mental health crisis, Slinkard alleged Buen was well within his rights to order Glass out of the car. His refusal to get out would have been noncompliance.
While Stoughton agreed officers could order someone suspected of DUI to get out of their car, he said it ultimately wouldn’t matter.
Whether Glass was experiencing a mental health crisis, or high, or drunk, he was still in crisis. And people in crisis are handled the same way, regardless of the cause, he said.
“It was obvious from very early on that regardless of alcohol or drugs, or even because of alcohol or drugs...that this is an individual in crisis. And when we talk about crisis, that can be the result of a mental health situation, an acute diagnosable condition. It can be the result of substance abuse or impairment. It can be the result of emotional distress, right? A recent breakup or something like that,” Stoughton said. “The purpose for, or the underlying cause of, crisis is really irrelevant. The officer tactics when dealing with an individual in crisis are consistent.”
He told the jury there were a number of ways to get Glass out of the car without going “kinetic,” or using force, like using pepper spray or calling in a negotiator. He said it would've been appropriate to call in someone trained in crisis intervention, like an on-call psychologist.
Stoughton's testimony referenced his 93-page report on the incident, which was based on evidence photos and reports from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Glass' autopsy report, law enforcement training records from each officer on scene, policy records, and three separate body camera videos.
The prosecution is set to call more witnesses on Friday.
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 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.
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 of 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’s 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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