The Life & Liberty Law Office/YouTube
April 19, 2021, 11:39 am
Police officers from a place called Loveland, Colorado sure didn’t show a lot of love to a 73-year-old woman with dementia, according to allegations in a federal lawsuit that recently came to light.
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According to the suit, the woman didn’t pay for $13.88 worth of items from a Walmart in that city … and got thrown to the ground by police, who also hog-tied her and injured her in the process.
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According to CBS Denver, the suit alleges “excessive use of force” in the June 26, 2020 shoplifting arrest of Karen Garner. The Life & Liberty Law Office, representing Garner in the suit, painted a picture of someone who was not at all prepared for how the police treated her in the arrest.
Her legal team contends, according to the article, “that she suffers from dementia and sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to verbally communicate and understand others’ communications.” They also pointed out she’s just five feet tall and only weighs 80 pounds.
They also note that on the day of the arrest, “she was walking through a field picking wildflowers” when one of the officers named in the suit called her out to talk to him.
In bodycam footage released last week, the arresting officer, identified as Austin Hopp, announces, “I don’t think you want to play it this way” to Garner as he gets out of his car around the :36 mark.
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By the :48 mark, Hopp has caught up to Garner, who appears confused by his request to stop. He mentions that she’s just left Walmart. He then asks, “Do you need to be arrested right now?”
She turns away from him and starts walking; he immediately moves toward her, grabs her arm, and forces her to the ground, cuffing one of her wrists almost immediately, though leaving the other one free while he’s pinning her to the ground. At one point, he reveals that she’s grabbing her cell phone, and he pulls it out of her hand and throws it to the ground.
He depicts her actions as resisting arrest, as he walks her to his car and pins her against it, saying, “Oh, if you kick me, it’s going to be bad.”
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Another officer comes to help as she wails, “I’m going home.” They get her back on the ground again as they’re attempting to place her in the police car. About the five-minute mark, a bystander drives up behind the police car, demanding to know who the sergeant is overseeing the office, after seeing the struggle. (Though, the bystander thinks, perhaps due to Garner’s small stature, that it’s a “kid” they’ve apprehended.)
Then, around the seven-minute mark, the officers determine that hog-tying her is the best way to subdue her and get her in the vehicle.
According to the CBS Denver report, “Garner’s lawyers accuse supervising officer Sgt. Metzler (the sergeant mentioned in Hopp’s exchange with the witness) of helping his subordinates cover up the brutality and allegedly directed that Garner be denied access to medical care for her injuries. Metzler also is alleged to have kept his own body camera deactivated and failed to write a report regarding use of force, both of which are claimed to be a violation of the Loveland Police Department’s written policies.”
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The suit also maintains, “Garner was ignored despite repeated complaints of pain and that medical care was not sought for her in the several hours she remained with police, instead she was handcuffed to a cell at the station for more than 2 hours. She was then transferred to the Larimer County Jail where she remained for another 3 hours without medical treatment.”
It also claims that “since her arrest last summer, she has become withdrawn, depressed, afraid to go outdoors and that she needs help getting dressed and showering because she has lost most functional use of her left arm.”
*First Published: April 19, 2021, 11:39 am
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