The Star: December 01, 2022

NEW INFORMATION reveals
United States police officers
were never at any risk from
Christchurch-raised Christian
Glass before they tasered him
and fatally shot him five times.
Glass, 22, was shot through the
windshield of his car after he ran
off the road near Silver Plume,
Colorado, and called police for
help during an apparent mental
health crisis on June 11.
Days after two Clear Creek
County Sheriff’s Office deputies,
Deputy Andrew Buen and Sergeant
Kyle Gould, were indicted
and fired for the alleged killing
of Glass, CBS News Colorado
received the indictment which
revealed damning new details.
During the incident a decision
was made to remove Glass
from his vehicle even though he
appeared to be pleading with
the officers, saying he was not a
threat but needed help and was
scared. At one point he was seen
making a heart with his hands.
The indictment said Gould,
who is alleged to have made the
order to remove Glass from his
car, should have never made the
order.
“There is no reason to believe
that Mr Glass would have been
a danger to any law enforcement
personnel, to himself, or to any
member of the public,” it reads.
Furthermore, according to
the indictment, “no one on the
scene had made a determination
that there was probable cause or
reasonable suspicion that a crime
had been committed or was being
committed”.
During the incident, the
indictment stated that Buen’s
interactions with Glass became
“verbally aggressive” at times
and Buen’s colleague Deputy
Timothy Collin attempted to
step in but these cues went unnoticed.
In a phone call to Gould, Buen
apparently muted his body-cam,
according to the indictment.
From this point efforts to remove
Glass from his car were escalated
even though a Colorado
State Patrol supervisor, heard
in edited recordings released by
Rathod’s law firm, told the CSP
officer on the scene, “If there’s
no crime and he’s not suicidal
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or homicidal, or a great danger,
then there’s no reason to contact
him.”
Buen went on to break out the
front passenger side window
of Glass’s car with a baton as
Georgetown Police Chief Randall
Williams unsuccessfully
tried to do the same on the rear
driver’s side window. Buen then
shot Glass with six bean-bag
rounds, one of which broke the
rear driver’s side window, CBS
reported.
Glass was then tasered by
both Buen and Williams and the
indictment said he screamed in
pain and swung his knife around
in panic and self defence, but
Buen ended up shooting Glass
five times with his pistol.
Glass was then removed from
the car and pronounced dead at
the scene.
“Chief Williams at no point
was in imminent danger of being
stabbed by Mr Glass and Mr
Glass never attempted to exit the
vehicle,” the indictment reads.
Last week a grand jury charged
Buen and Gould, leading to their
termination.
The sheriff’s office called the
decision to fire the officers a
“painful but necessary process”
following a one month investigation
into Glass’ death.
“From the beginning, CCSO
pledged full co-operation with
the criminal investigation. This
is an ongoing commitment,
continuing with the next phase
Thursday December 1 2022 The Star
NEWS 15
Indictment reveals US officers weren’t at
risk before shooting former Chch 22yo
SCARED: Former Christchurch man Christian Glass was shot dead by police in Colorado after he called for roadside
assistance.
of the criminal justice process,”
the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
US police issued a news release
soon after the fatality, saying
Glass was shot after he became
“argumentative and unco-operative”
and tried to stab an officer
when police smashed a window
to remove him from the vehicle.
However, his parents Simon
and Sally Glass and their lawyers
released a raft of body camera
footage that showed a very different
scenario.
Glass was born and raised in
Christchurch and when he was 10
his parents relocated to the US.
His grandparents still live in
the city.
– NZ Herald
Cannabis smoked on long haul delivery
• By Emily Moorhouse
THE OWNER of a transport
company had meth in his system
and smoked two cannabis joints
at the wheel of his faulty and
unauthorised truck during a
long-haul journey.
Benjamin Mikkelson appeared
in district court for sentencing
on 11 charges in relation to
his drug use and standard of
vehicles.
At the hearing, Mikkelson, the
owner of the Christchurch-based
That Transport Company, made
an unsuccessful bid to keep his
licence so he could continue
working.
According to the summary of
facts, Mikkelson was driving a
Nissan Condor truck from Dunedin
to Invercargill on November
11 last year, fully laden with
building materials for a client.
On his way, the 34-year-old
was stopped by the Commercial
Vehicle Safety Team that
discovered his truck not only had
an expired certificate of fitness
but that the transport service
licence displayed did not belong
to the truck or the company.
This is a requirement for a
truck with a gross vehicle mass
of more than six tonnes.
After further inspection of
the vehicle, the team found a
number of faults including a
worn tyre, missing mirror, the
front bumper being insecure and
a broken tail light.
The team issued a non-operation
order on the vehicle which
prohibited Mikkelson from driving
it until repairs were carried
out and a certificate of fitness
obtained as well as a transport
service licence.
Mikkelson was also issued
with a notice forbidding him to
operate an unlicensed transport
service and was ordered to hand
over his logbook to police –
which contained no entries for
that day’s work.
During his interaction with
police, officers noticed the driver’s
unusual behaviour. He then
admitted to smoking two joints
while driving from Christchurch
to Dunedin.
A compulsory impairment
test was carried out which Mikkelson
failed and a blood test
returned positive results for
methamphetamine and cannabis.
As a result, he was forbidden
to drive for 12 hours, starting at
10.30am that day.
However, only six hours later
Mikkelson got back into his
truck – without completing any
repairs or obtaining the required
licences – and completed the
drive to Invercargill.
He had also attempted to hide
the non-operation order sticker
attached to the front windscreen.
Mikkelson arrived in Invercargill
around 7pm and delivered
his load to an unknown destination.
Three hours later, parked on
a street in Invercargill, he was
located by police who found a
bong and 21 grams of cannabis
in the truck.
In further offending, Mikkelson
was pulled over by a CVST
officer on August 17 this year
after he was seen on his phone
while driving a Hino truck in
Waipara. Again, he was without
an up-to-date certificate of fitness
or registration.
Mikkelson also did not have a
logbook, which was required as
he was driving a truck of more
than 6000kg and travelling beyond
50km of his base.
Additionally, he had a road
user licence displayed on the
windscreen showing a maximum
reading of 20,000km but
the hubodometer fitted to his
truck read 44,088km.
In court, defence lawyer Jaiden
Manera argued against a disqualification
period, submitting
such a sentence would impact
Mikkelson’s business.
But Judge Quentin Hix considered
this concerning, stating the
offending was not minor.
He said it had been elevated
by drug use and Mikkelson’s
failure to adhere to the vehicle
orders.
The judge then sentenced
him to six months’ community
detention and 12 months of
intensive supervision.
A six-month disqualification
on all licences was imposed and
an 18-month disqualification on
class two to five vehicles.
Mikkelson was also ordered to
pay $778 reparation for the drug
tests.