On the night he called 911 for help, 22-year-old Christian Glass had never been arrested, never committed a crime, never harmed anyone, and was a threat to no one. Despite these facts, and despite the fact that he was entirely innocent, police would show up to his call for help that night, and execute him.
On the night of June 11, 2022, Glass somehow got his car stuck on a rural dirt road after running into a small shrub. Thinking they would help him, Glass called 911 and though he was in an obvious state of mental distress when he called, he was still rational, honest, and completely open about the situation, going so far as to answer the dispatchers question as to whether he had any weapons.
“I have two knives, a hammer and a rubber mallet … But I am not dangerous, I will keep my hands completely visible,” he told the dispatcher, offering to throw them out once officers arrived. But officers wouldn’t let him throw them out, telling him to keep the weapons inside the car as they escalated the situation to deadly violence.
“I’m in a 2007 Honda Pilot. I will not be fine on my own,” he told an operator, according to CPR. “You’re sending someone right? You tracked my location? My car is stuck under a bush … I love you. You’re my light right now. I’m really scared. I’m sorry.”
When police arrived, Glass once again offered to toss the knives and hammers out of the window. But officers made the incredibly ignorant decision to disallow this in spite of the fact that Glass had committed no crime.
“Please push me out, drag me out, I’ll follow you to a police station,” Glass told the officers. “I’m so scared.”
“You need to step out of the car now. Step out of the car,” an officer said. “That is a lawful order. Step out of the car now or you’ll be removed from the vehicle.”
Glass responded, “I’m so scared … You’re not communicating clearly with me. I don’t understand why I have to come out.”
A few minutes later and cops decided it would be a good idea to threaten to break the window of the innocent man’s vehicle.
This obviously didn’t help the situation at all. Eventually, officers from Clear Creek, Idaho Springs, Georgetown Police, Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Division of Gaming arrived on the scene — for an innocent man, stuck on the roadside. It must have been a slow night in Clear Creek.
For a brief second, the responding officers had a moment of clarity and decided to call over a female officer with a much calmer demeanor. As she walked over to the car, Glass put his hands into a heart sign and blew kisses at her — illustrating just how big of a “threat” he was.
“Same back at you, but come out and talk to us,” she said.
But he did not come out.
The officers’ superiors knew that Glass had committed no crime and eventually radioed in to the responding deputies to leave since there was no threat to anyone.
“Can you ask Clear Creek what their plan is? If there is no crime and he’s not suicidal or homicidal or a great danger, then there’s no reason to contact him,” a CSP sergeant says over the radio. “Is there a medical issue we’re not aware of?”
“No,” a patrol trooper responded back.
Unfortunately, all logic and reason would become non-existent at this point and instead of leaving the innocent man alone, officers decided to move in. One officer jumped on the hood of Glass’s car with a pistol and flashlight in his face as others drew weapons and pointed them at him.
Seconds later, as an officer breaks the window, multiple shots were fired and Glass would be murdered in his vehicle. His killers… public servants.
Hellbound and Down 