NATIONAL NEWS

Charges dropped against 3 officers after they make a training video about fatal Colorado shooting

May 9, 2025, 10:05 AM

FILE - This image provided by Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office shows video camera footage of the...

FILE - This image provided by Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office shows video camera footage of the police encounter with Christian Glass on June 10, 2022 in Silver Plume, Colo. (Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office via AP)

DENVER (AP) — Charges have been dropped against all but one Colorado law enforcement officer accused of not stepping in and possibly preventing the fatal 2022 shooting of a man in distress who had called 911 for help.

The misdemeanor charges of failing to intervene were dismissed against Tim Collins, Brittany Morrow and Ryan Bennie under a deal that required them to record a training video about what went wrong in the standoff with Christian Glass in a small mountain community, Fifth Judicial District Attorney Heidi McCollum confirmed Friday.

They were among six officers charged in 2023 with failing to intervene to stop the actions of former Clear Creek Sheriff’s Office Deputy Andrew Buen, who shot and killed Glass. The shooting drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.

Prosecutors tried twice to convince jurors to convict Buen of second-degree murder. The first time the jury convicted Buen of a misdemeanor for recklessly putting other officers in danger by opening fire. In his second trial, jurors convicted Buen of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide for the shooting itself in February. He was sentenced to three years in prison, the maximum sentence he faced.

That verdict and the effect three more trials could have on Glass’s family as well as the county of about 10,000 people led prosecutors to enter a deal to dismiss the charges, McCollum said. Under the agreement, Collins, Morrow and Bennie all received additional training, including on de-escalation, and participated in making the training video, she said.

The hope is that their video will be used by law enforcement agencies across the country that are already using body camera footage of the Glass shooting to teach how not to respond to people in crisis.

“If we can save one life, if we can prevent one law enforcement officer from killing someone, then the dismissal of these three cases is worth it,” McCollum said.

Another officer is still charged with failing to intervene and third-degree assault. McCollum said she cannot comment on possible plea deals with him or any defendant.

Siddhartha Rathod, a lawyer representing Glass’s parents, Simon and Sally Glass, praised McCollum for trying a different approach.

“This is the type of prosecutors we want, who are being creative, who want to create solutions that result in a safer community,” he said.

Duty to intervene charges were also dropped against two other officers who work for the state’s gaming division in December. A judge ruled they were not covered by the law passed in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd.

Buen’s supervisor pleaded guilty to failing to intervene.

National News

Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, center, whose husband, Rami Othmane, a Tunisian musician, is detained at the U....

Associated Press

A Tunisian musician was detained in LA after living in US for a decade. His doctor wife speaks out

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dr. Wafaa Alrashid noticed fewer of her patients were showing up for their appointments at the Los Angeles area hospital where she works as immigration raids spread fear among the Latino population she serves. The Utah-born chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital understood their fear on a personal level. Her husband […]

4 hours ago

FILE - People wait outside of Glass House Farms, a day after an immigration raid on the facility, F...

Associated Press

Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court’s temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the […]

5 hours ago

Abeer and Fadi Sobh gather in their tent with their children at a camp for displaced Palestinians i...

Associated Press

From dawn to dusk, a Gaza family focuses on one thing: finding food

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip to the same question: How will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options: Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot […]

6 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of ...

Associated Press

After a reference to Trump’s impeachments is removed from a history museum, complex questions echo

NEW YORK (AP) — It would seem the most straightforward of notions: A thing takes place, and it goes into the history books or is added to museum exhibits. But whether something even gets remembered and how — particularly when it comes to the history of a country and its leader — is often the […]

7 hours ago

FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (A...

Associated Press

DeSantis set a Florida record for executions. It’s driving a national increase

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In the final moments of a life defined by violence, 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski thanked the people of Florida for killing him “in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible,” breathing deeply as a lethal drug cocktail coursed through his veins. With his last breath, strapped to a gurney inside […]

7 hours ago

Devon Wells, a junior at Perry Central High School, welds a metal calf feeder at Halo Farms, where ...

Associated Press

Rural US high schools are offering more college-level classes, but college can still be a tough sell

PERRY, N.Y. (AP) — As a student in western New York’s rural Wyoming County, Briar Townes honed an artistic streak that he hopes to make a living from one day. In high school, he clicked with a college-level drawing and painting class. But despite the college credits he earned, college isn’t part of his plan. […]

7 hours ago

Charges dropped against 3 officers after they make a training video about fatal Colorado shooting