DENVER (AP) – accusations have been abandoned against all agents responsible for the application of laws, except one, accused of not intervening and possibly prevent The fatal shot of 2022 of a man in distress who had called 911 to get help.
The charges of non-intervention were rejected against Tim Collins, Brittany Morrow and Ryan Bennie as part of an agreement which forced them to record a training video on what did not work in the confrontation with Christian Glass in a small mountain community, the prosecutor of the fifth judicial district Heidi McCollum confirmed on Friday.
They were among Six accused officers In 2023, without having intervened to stop the actions of the former deputy for the Sheriff of Clear Creek, Andrew Buen, who pulled and killed glass. The shooting drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how the authorities react to people with mental health problems.
The prosecutors tried twice to convince the jurors to condemn Buen of second degree murder. The first time the jury condemned Buen of an offense for endangering other reckless officers by opening fire. In his second trial, the jurors condemned Buen of the less accusation of homicide by criminal negligence For the shooting itself in February. He was sentenced At three years in prison, the maximum sentence he was faced with.
This verdict and the effect three other tests could have on the family of Glass as well as the county of around 10,000 people led the prosecutors to conclude an agreement to reject the accusations, said McCollum. Under the agreement, Collins, Morrow and Bennie have all received additional training, including de-escalation, and participated in the production of the training video, she said.
Hope is that their video will be used by law enforcement agencies across the country which already use images of body cameras of glass shooting to learn not to respond to people in crisis.
“If we can save a life, if we can prevent an agent from the police from killing someone, the rejection of these three cases is worth it,” said McCollum.
Another officer is still accused of non-intervention and third degree assault. McCollum said that she could not comment on the possible advocacy agreements with him or any accused.
Siddhartha Rathod, a lawyer representing the parents of Glass, Simon and Sally Glass, congratulated McCollum for trying a different approach.
“This is the type of prosecutors we want, who are creative, who want to create solutions that result in a safer community,” he said.
The accusations of intervention were also abandoned against two other officers who work for the Division of State Games in December. A judge judged that they were not covered by the law adopted in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
Good supervisor pleaded guilty not to intervene.
