Colorado Officers Who Arrested a 73-Year-Old Woman with Dementia Face Charges

[SummerMadness]

Colorado Officers Who Arrested a 73-Year-Old Woman with Dementia Face Charges

Multiple charges have been filed against two former Colorado police officers for their roles in the arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia last year.

The charges were filed on Wednesday against former Loveland Police Department officers Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali, who arrested and booked Karen Garner as she was walking home from a local Walmart after failing to pay for about $14 worth of merchandise.

Hopp, who handcuffed Garner and allegedly dislocated her shoulder in the process, is charged with two felonies — assault in the second degree causing a serious bodily injury to an at-risk victim and attempting to influence a public servant — and a misdemeanor charge for official misconduct. Jalali faces three misdemeanor charges, including failure to report excessive use of force, failure to intervene in a use of excessive force, and official misconduct.

 

[Landon Caeli]

Colorado Officers Who Arrested a 73-Year-Old Woman with Dementia Face Charges

Thanks for posting this, It's just horrible the lack of integrity that so many officers have. The whole concept of policing needs to be scrapped, and rebuilt new, IMO.

...They should invite scientists, psychologists and think tanks to reinvent policing from scratch. That would be much better than the archaic form we have now that was invented by lawyers and politicians.

 

[SongOnTheWind]

Thanks for posting this, It's just horrible the lack of integrity that so many officers have. The whole concept of policing needs to be scrapped, and rebuilt new, IMO.

...They should invite scientists, psychologists and think tanks to reinvent policing from scratch. That would be much better than the archaic form we have now that was invented by lawyers and politicians.

It looks like they are actually starting to do something about it though, instead of protecting their own once again. Maybe this is the start of some change?

 

[Hank77]

It looks like they are actually starting to do something about it though, instead of protecting their own once again. Maybe this is the start of some change?

No, sadly that isn't what happened. They did nothing about it until the media got involved.
She had a dislocated shoulder and a problem with her wrist but what did any of the people at the jail do....nothing!!

The two officers eventually transport Garner to the station and where she is booked. According to court documents, she remained handcuffed to a bench in a cell for six hours before receiving any medical attention, despite numerous complaints by Garner that both her shoulder and wrist were in pain.
...
"These officers did not do this in a vacuum," she said. "Multiple individuals at the Loveland police department watched what Hopp and Jalali did."


Schielke has noted that the department failed to take any action against the officer until media reports publicized Garner's violent arrest. This inaction was despite the fact that several other officers, as well as supervisors, were aware of what had happened. Only after reports did officials seek to launch an investigation into the incident resulting in Wednesday's charges, she said.

 

[SummerMadness]

As with many of these stories, action is only taken once the video comes to light. When there is no video, everyone is see no evil, hear no evil.

 

[ReuleauxMan]

This is a taste of what we get when rule of law trumps human life and dignity. Shoot first, show no emotion (except aggressive intimidation tactics to emotionally paralyze the target as a part of procedure), and ask questions later (in this case probably never, until the media arrives), like she's an enemy combatant or a dangerous and violent threat. Advanced in years with an elderly body frame and showing signs of dementia? The cops didn't care because they simply had a job to take care of above all else - subdue and arrest the target as quickly as possible.

I thought a good mantra to go by was God first, family second, and country third, but these cops put brutally arresting this poor woman at a higher priority than all three of those. For Pete's sake, a robot trained to assess each situation rationally before making an arrest would have demonstrated more of a human heart.

 

[SongOnTheWind]

As with many of these stories, action is only taken once the video comes to light. When there is no video, everyone is see no evil, hear no evil.

In other words, whatever they can get away with...

Makes you wonder if they're getting worse; or were just always this way and just now they're on youtube they have to deal with some of the fall out.

 

[disciple Clint]

Colorado Officers Who Arrested a 73-Year-Old Woman with Dementia Face Charges

This is a duplicate of a post made 8:18 pm yesterday. These officers were wrong no question about that and the department has taken responsible action. It is important the remember that there are a few mistakes made when police officers are hired, these mistakes get sorted out almost all the time. It is also important to think about the fact that it is going to be very difficult to recruit quality people for law enforcement if public opinion is negative about the job, that may indeed be the goal of some political organizations, destroy the police and let crime run free, that would ultimately lead to instability in our social and political systems and make it possible for power groups to substantially change our country. I do not think that the majority of the people want this but it can certainly happen if we let it. Let us try to keep in mind that exceedingly by far the police officers who do a job that is necessary to our safety are professionals who do their job the way it should be done, they are willing to risk their lives everyday to ensure that you are protected, let us not condemn them all based on the acts of a few.