Three additional officers on leave over arrest of 73-year-old woman with dementia
Two additional Loveland, Colorado police officers and a sergeant have been placed on administrative leave after the arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia. The encounter is now under investigation according to NBC News. Police officer Austin Hopp was placed on administrative leave earlier this month after a lawsuit accused him and another officer of injuring Karen Garner during the June 26, 2020 arrest. The arrest was captured on body camera footage.
Garner suffered a dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist and fractured arm was forced to the ground, hogtied then placed in the back of a police according the lawsuit. Garner was walking home when she was stopped for allegedly trying to steal $13.88 worth of items from a Walmart. Garner’s attorney Sarah Schielke, says her client has dementia and sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to verbally communicate with people along with understand others’ communications.
Schielke says due to her dementia Garner forgot to pay for the items, which were retrieved by Walmart employees.
On Tuesday, the Loveland City Manager’s Office announced that Officers Tyler Blackett and Daria Jalali, along with Sgt. Philip Metzler, were also on administrative leave. Jalali was the responding officer during Garner’s arrest and Metzler was the supervisor who arrived on scene, according to the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the city manager Justine Bruno, said that Blackett is a Community Service Officer (CSO). Bruno says that CSOs are primarily responsible for transporting suspects to jail, however, couldn’t speak directly on Blackett’s role in the incident. The disciplinary actions were announced days after Schielke released a video of three Loveland officers were laughing about Garner’s arrest.
The video came from a camera inside the Loveland Police Department which include subtitles that haven’t been verified. The charges against Garner were later dismissed, she said. The Loveland Police Department said in a statement that the officers’ actions during the arrest are now the subject of a criminal investigation led by District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin and the Fort Collins Police Services.
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