DENVER (AP) — An attorney for one of two law enforcement officers indicted in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man who was stranded along a road in a small mountain town and having a “mental health crisis” last year is trying to have the charges thrown out against him.
Attorney Christopher T. Brousseau, representing Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kyle Gould, told a judge in court Monday that there weren't grounds to charge Gould with a crime. He said Gould was not among the officers who responded to help Christian Glass after his vehicle got stuck in the former mining town of Silver Plume in June.
Brousseau said Gould only gave advice to the other officer accused of shooting Glass, Andrew Buen, based on the information provided to him. Gould was off-duty and at home at the time, Brousseau said, echoing arguments he made in a motion to dismiss the charges filed last week.
Prosecutors did not respond to the argument during the hearing in Idaho Springs. Judge Catherine Cheroutes said she would give the district attorney's office until Feb. 14 to respond to Brousseau's arguments in writing.
An attorney for Glass’ parents, Siddhartha Rathod, said he opposed the move, saying Gould listened in to what was happening at the scene through Buen’s body camera. Once Gould arrived after the scene after the shooting, he muted his body camera as he spoke to officers in what he called an attempt to cover up what had happened, Rathod said.
Gould was indicted for reckless endangerment and criminally negligent homicide in Glass' death, which drew national attention and prompted calls for police reforms focused on crisis intervention.
Glass, who called police to help get his Honda Pilot unstuck, appeared to be paranoid and having a “mental health crisis,” according to the indictment. After authorities broke a window in his vehicle, Glass then brandished a knife in “a state of complete panic and self defense,” and Buen fired five times at Glass, according to the indictment.
Gould gave permission for officers to break a vehicle window as a last resort, but he could not have foreseen a series of events that preceded the shooting, including Glass holding a knife and another officer getting too close to Glass, Brousseau said in last week's filing.
Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press
