Shortly thereafter, Glass's parents, Sally and Simon Glass, issued a statement through Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, the Denver-based law firm representing them. "The wheels of justice are turning in the right direction, and we support the efforts and diligence of the 5th Judicial District Attorney, Heidi McCollum, to empanel a grand jury," they said. "There is not an hour that passes that we do not think about our gentle son Christian Glass. We are expecting accountability for those involved in his murder."
In a statement of her own that included condolences to Glass's family and friends, McCollum said: "After a comprehensive investigation, I now intend to bring this matter to the grand jury which, at my request, is scheduled to convene multiple times during the month of November. ... When a peace officer shoots and wounds or kills another in Colorado, there are specific protocols to investigate and review such matters. It is imperative that we reach the right decision and not rush into judgment — in fairness to the family of the victim, and those involved with and impacted by Christian’s death. Most of all, I am absolutely committed to seeking justice in this case. The grand jury, through their subpoena power and sworn testimony, will aid us in reaching the right outcome."
Of course, McCollum could have skipped the grand jury and issued formal accusations on her own — and in an interview with Westword last month, Glass family attorney Siddhartha Rathod contended that body-worn camera videos from the scene offered more than enough justification for taking this course. "It's not difficult to determine what needs to happen here," Rathod said. "These officers need to be held criminally responsible. They need to be criminally charged with Christian's death."
The original Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office release about the fatal episode is matter-of-fact. It states that at about 11:21 p.m. on June 10, the office's communication center received a "motorist assist" call from an individual on the 600 block of Main Street in Silver Plume. Upon their arrival, deputies found "an adult white male" (Glass hadn't been identified yet) who "appeared to have been involved in an accident" and "immediately became argumentative and uncooperative with the deputies and had armed himself with a knife."
When Glass didn't quickly leave the vehicle, additional law enforcement officers were called to the scene "and for over an hour tried to bring the situation to a peaceful resolution," the release continues. "Deputies were able to break out the car windows and remove one knife," but because Glass was still in possession of a second knife and a rock, they subsequently "deployed less-lethal bean bags and Taser with negative results." Finally, Glass was fatally shot after he allegedly "tried to stab an officer."
The account previously offered by Rathod has little in common with the official version.
"Christian called 911 for help after his car got stuck on some rocks as he attempted to do a U-turn — and he was clearly having a crisis," the attorney noted. "Clear Creek Sheriff's Office deputies arrived and were almost immediately aggressive with him. Within less than a minute and thirty seconds of being on the scene, they were threatening to pull him out of the car. Within three minutes of being on the scene, they were threatening to break out his windows. And within just a few minutes of being there, they had their guns drawn on Christian."
As for the knives, "Christian had self-identified in the 911 call that he had them," Rathod continued. "When the operator asked, 'Do you have any weapons,' he said, 'I have two knives, a hammer and a rubber mallet' — geology tools he used for finding rocks. He said, 'I'll throw them out of the window if that will make the officers feel safe.' And when the officers arrived, he had his hands up and waved at the officers. He offered to throw the weapons out of the car and they started screaming at him and said, 'No.'"
The videos reveal that "Christian was scared" by their reaction, Rathod contended. "He was terrified and in crisis. The first time he picks up a knife, the officers are standing outside the window, and as they draw their guns, he throws it across the car and covers his mouth in fear. And Christian had committed no crime. There was no reason to continue the contact, and if the officers were afraid of a person holding a legal knife in a car with the windows fully up, they should have done what every police expert tells them to do: seek cover, distance and time. You don't stand right next to the threat, but they did, which just demonstrates that there really wasn't a threat."
After a deputy broke out one of the vehicle's windows, "Christian responded by picking up the knife — and they shot him six times with bean bags, which is the equivalent of being repeatedly punched as hard as humanly possible," the attorney said. "They blew out the back window and tased him several times, causing him to slash with the knife in pain and panic — and that's when the officer shot five times and killed him."
Here's the law firm's compilation of body-camera video:
Glass Final Video from Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC on Vimeo.
Empaneling a grand jury is no guarantee of an indictment, as witnessed by an earlier case involving the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office — the 2020 killing of 57-year-old Darrin Patterson, who suffered from mental illness, by two deputies. In the end, grand jurors determined that no criminal charges were warranted against the deputies but suggested that the tragedy might have been prevented if the county had a system in place to deploy mental-health professionals trained to de-escalate such situations. Such a system wasn't embraced until earlier this month, when Sheriff Rick Albers revealed that his agency is collaborating with the area's elected commissioners to develop a crisis-response team.Would Glass still be alive had such a unit been available on that fateful night in June? That question is likely to hover over the work of the latest grand jury to look into a fatal law-enforcement encounter in Clear Creek County.
