美国国家公共电台 NPR--A family will receive the largest known police settlement in Colorado's history

A family will receive the largest known police settlement in Colorado's history

Transcript¹

Christian² Glass called 911 after his car got stuck on the roadside. After officers arrived, one of them shot and killed Glass in the front seat of his car. A $19 million settlement has been reached.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The family of Christian Glass will receive a payment from police. Authorities in Colorado killed Glass at the age of 22. He called 911 for help, and a sheriff's deputy who responded shot him as he sat inside the car. Now, the state and several law enforcement agencies have settled the case by agreeing to pay $19 million. Colorado Public Radio's Allison Sherry has been following the case. Good morning.

ALLISON SHERRY, BYLINE³: Good morning.

INSKEEP: I guess we should note, I mean, there are a lot of different sizes of settlements for wrongful deaths like this. Nineteen million is pretty high. Why so high?

SHERRY: Well, in these situations, they do consider a person's potential lifetime of earnings⁴. But, you know, I think really the more important point is that this reflects a pretty big acknowledgement that the law enforcement officers on the scene that night did pretty much everything wrong and that if municipalities didn't pay out now, a jury could have awarded the family something much bigger.

INSKEEP: Oh, so 19 million may have been a bargain. We should note that there are so many high-profile police shootings that involve race in some way or another. In this case, we'll just note that everybody involved appeared to be white. What, according to the plaintiffs, did the police do wrong?

SHERRY: Well, you know, I'm sure you know, Steve, officers are supposed to de-escalate scenes when they get there, and these officers escalated⁵ everything from the moment they arrived. Glass never threatened them. He never showed he was a danger to anyone. They screamed at him. They used force. They ended up breaking all the car windows when he was safely inside his own vehicle. At one point, a deputy stood on the hood⁶ of his car and pointed⁷ a gun at him through the windshield.

INSKEEP: Do you understand any better how it got to that point, how Glass ended up calling for help on that road?

SHERRY: Yeah. You know, it was around midnight. Glass was driving in the mountains near Denver. He apparently⁸ got his car stuck on some rocks. This is according to 911 dispatch tape. He called them. He called for some help. He said he had some geology gear in the car from a trip he had recently taken to Utah - two knives and a rubber mallet⁹. He also sounded a little paranoid on that call and very, very scared. When the deputies got there, he offered to throw the gear out the window of the car, but they declined.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: No, do not throw them out. Do not touch them. Do not reach for them. I want you out of the vehicle now. Step out.

SHERRY: Glass told them he was really afraid of getting out of the car. He asked them to tow him or push him out and he'd follow them to a police station. The scene was super chaotic¹⁰. It escalated very quickly. Eventually, they ended up breaking the windows, shooting him with beanbag projectiles¹¹, tasing him, and then ultimately killing¹² him. And, you know, just as a reminder¹³, he was never suspected of committing any crime during all of this.

INSKEEP: Other than paying $19 million, would these law enforcement agencies have to do anything?

SHERRY: Yes, and I think this is really important to the family, the non-monetary agreements that they came up with in this agreement. Clear Creek¹⁴ County, which is the small mountain community that this took place, will dedicate a crisis response team in their small law enforcement agency. The state will also launch a virtual reality police training with Christian's stories so officers can practice how to respond to someone who may be in crisis. And his parents are going to speak to new police recruits about what happened.

INSKEEP: And I guess we should note for the record also, a couple of people involved in this, including the man who shot Glass, have been charged in the case and their trial is coming up. Allison, thanks so much.

SHERRY: Thanks, Steve.

INSKEEP: Allison Sherry is with Colorado Public Radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLACK HILL'S "CHILDREN OF THE SNOW")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

5 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

6 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

9 mallet   

n.槌棒

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• The chairman rapped on the table twice with his mallet.主席用他的小木槌在桌上重敲了两下。

10 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

11 projectiles   

n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器

参考例句：

• These differences are connected with the strong absorption of the composite projectiles. 这些差别与复杂的入射粒子的强烈吸收有关。 来自辞典例句
• Projectiles became more important because cannons could now fire balls over hundreds or yards. 抛射体变得更加重要，因为人们已能用大炮把炮弹射到几百码的距离之外。 来自辞典例句

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

14 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。