A federal case has been filed against a police officer in Loveland, Colorado, and two of his officers after a 73-year-old woman with dementia was injured during an arrest.
Karen Garner suffered a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and a sprained wrist after officers at the Loveland Police Department struck her on the ground and tied her up on June 26, 2020, the lawsuit reads.
Photos released by attorney Sarah Schielke showed Garner with a purple and bruised arm.
The arrest officer has been placed on administrative leave as the incident is investigated, the department said in a news release on Thursday. An auxiliary officer and a police supervisor have been assigned to administrative duties, it reads.
The incident began when Garner was accused of stealing $ 13.88 worth of items from a Walmart. Schielke said her client has dementia and sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to communicate orally with people or understand others’ communication.
The lawyer said because of the dementia, her client forgot to pay for the items.
Walmart did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
After Garner left the store, he walked two streets from her home through a field. According to the case, she was stopped by Austin Hopp, police officer in Loveland.
In the in-camera video provided by Schielke, Hopp asks Garner to stop walking and talk to him. Garner is seen pulling her shoulders up as she keeps walking.
Hopp grabbed Garner and roughly took her to the ground and handcuffed her. Garner repeatedly told the officer, “I’m going home.”
Hopp then forces Garner to her feet and walks her to his police car when a female officer arrives to help. The warehouse identified the second officer as Daria Jalali.
Both officers are seen in the video struggling to get Garner to the back seat of the police car.
A spectator watching the arrest asks officers to use ‘so much aggression’. Hopp tells the witness to ‘get out of here’ and says: this is not your business. ‘
While the fight with Garner continues, Hopp tells Jalali to help him get Garner to the ground. He then fastens her ankles, the video shows. Garner is then forced into the back of the police car.
The lawsuit states that Garner ‘cried for the house’.
“She was bleeding from her nose, forehead and wrist,” it says.
A Loveland police sergeant, identified as Phil Metzler in the case, arrives on the scene. At one point, the video shows Metzler commenting on how muddy the officers are.
“A little bloody. A little muddy. That’s how it works,” Jalali says. Hopp tells the sergeant that the blood is Garner’s.
Schielke said her client did not stop when the officer asked because she did not understand him.
“When she indicated that she did not understand him, and turned to continue walking home, [Hopp] grabbed her and violently assaulted her, wrapped her arms behind her back, threw her to the ground and handcuffed her, “she said in a statement. Only eight seconds elapsed between Officer Hopp and Mrs. Garner and Officer Hopp take her little body to the ground and put her in handcuffs. ‘
The lawyer accused Officer Jalali of aiding Hopp to injure Garner ‘violently and unnecessarily’. The lawyer said Metzler did not offer Garner any medical help. Metzler is not named defendant in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Metzler was carrying his camera.
Garner was taken to the police station where she stayed for more than two hours before being sent to Larimer County Jail. The district attorney later dropped the charges against her.
The Loveland Police Department said in a statement that it “takes the allegations seriously” and shares the community’s concern over video footage released Wednesday.
“LPD has not previously received a complaint about serious injuries to Karen Garner, and only heard of the allegations surrounding her arrest on April 14,” the statement read. “The investigation into the incident will include an investigation into the actions of all officers who may have been involved.”
Schielke said her client has been withdrawn and depressed since the incident.
‘Me. “Garner’s experience with the Loveland police is not about bad apples,” she said. “It’s about culture. And the culture in Loveland is a lack of care, a lack of humility. ‘
Hopp and Jalali did not immediately return NBC News’ request for comment. Metzler could not be reached with the phone numbers listed for him in public.
