2 former Colorado officers charged in arrest that injured woman with dementia

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

Two former Colorado police officers have been charged in connection with an arrest in which a 73-year-old woman who has dementia is alleged to have suffered multiple injuries, authorities said Wednesday.

Austin Hopp, the onetime Loveland police officer who was recorded on body camera video tackling the woman, Karen Garner, on June 26, was charged with assault causing serious bodily injury, official misconduct and attempt to influence a public servant, said Gordon McLaughlin, the district attorney for Colorado's 8th Judicial District.

Fellow former officer Daria Jalali was charged with failure to report use of force, failure to intervene and official misconduct, McLaughlin said.

A federal lawsuit alleges that Garner suffered a dislocated shoulder, a fractured arm and a sprained wrist after she was slammed to the ground and hogtied.

-snip-

May 19, 2021, 5:44 PM EDT / Updated May 19, 2021, 7:37 PM EDT
By David K. Li and Tim Fitzsimons


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-former-colorado-officers-charged-role-arrest-injured-woman-dementia-n1267973

[Bayard]

1. I remember this case

It was appalling. Think they'll be fired?

[Eugene]

2. These two plus another officer resigned.

https://apnews.com/article/co-state-wire-arrests-34175d0f7e287d41b5bfe560794c4a62

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank goodness they didn't get a pass on this sadistic treatment of a helpless elderly woman. ❤️️

[Grammy23]

4. These cretins deserve to get a big ol' can o' whoop-ass

Opened up on their clueless behavior. The woman had issues easily identifiable with only cursory examination of her behavior. If the Loveland PD doesn’t start including information on the elderly in their officer training program, they need to be sued. Hell, maybe they need to be sued no matter what they do. Common sense should have kicked in for these two hapless police officers. But since it didn’t, please, throw the book at them.

[exboyfil]

5. They were watching the video and joking

When the woman's shoulder popped out of place. That is the action of a psychopath.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. This unfortunately shows

that even after they first started using dash cams, they didn't care and continued their abusive behavior. And now when body cams are used, they still don't care and haven't stopped that behavior, and that tells you something.

[sarge43]

7. "....and that tells you something."

Yeah, they thought they could get away with being brutes.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. When all is said and done

they might still "get away with being brutes" and even have their positions restored in the future, thanks to whatever pretzel-twisting police union logic and arguments that might happen during any trial.

[Grokenstein]

9. "Ready for the pop?" A quick reminder.

https://www.wisn.com/article/cop-accused-of-hurting-woman-s-arm-ready-for-the-pop/36256643

A Colorado police officer accused of dislocating the shoulder of a 73-year-old woman with dementia while arresting her seemed to be aware he had injured her. He told fellow officers "ready for the pop?" as he showed them his body camera footage, according to police station surveillance video with enhanced audio that was made public Monday by the woman's lawyer.

(...)

The surveillance video captured in the Loveland police station shows two other officers, one male and female, watching the footage with Hopp as he makes the "pop" comment. The female officer, who helped during the arrest and says "I hate this." The video then shows her pull her hat over her eyes while another male officer says, "I love it."

(...)

Later in the surveillance video, Hopp and the other male officer fist bump at the part of the body camera footage where Hopp dismisses the concerns of a man passing by the arrest scene who stops to object to how Hopp treated what the man thought was a child. After watching that part of the body cam video a second time, the second officer who is recorded on the surveillance video reacts to the man who stopped at the arrest scene by saying: "What are you doing? Get out of here. This is none of your business."

[colorado_ufo]

10. I watched the video and read the news account and

I want to puke.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. These officers are the Eldercareless

[RVN VET71]

12. There is no way to find justice here

This crime -- and the criminals who committed it -- is beyond belief and so ugly that our laws and courts really cannot provide retributive relief to the victim and her family.

The worst that will happen is the cops -- already “former” cops -- will be jailed a short time and released to brutalize helpless people again, maybe as private security guards or even as cops in other districts. It would be nice if they were sent up the river for a couple of years, although I think most prison populations would resent the presence of these craven toilet-worms in their cell blocks and view them as an insult to their community standards.

[LittleGirl]

13. This case really bothered me

I can’t watch the video again because that woman is not much older than me.

[Best_man23]

14. I don't know if Colorado has Elder Abuse Laws on the books

If they do, every officer who had anything to do with this case (directly involved or just knew about it and failed to immediately report it) needs to be charged under them, with maximum sentences handed down to drive the point home that this shit is no longer going to be tolerated or allowed to be swept under the rug.