Posted on 04/21/2021 1:32:55 PM PDT by simpson96
A 73-year-old grandmother of nine was picking wildflowers on the side of the road in Loveland, Colorado, last summer when a local cop got out of his patrol vehicle and told her to stop—beginning a police encounter that ultimately left her with broken bones, bruised, and traumatized.
Loveland Police Officer Austin Hopp had been driving behind Karen Garner with his overhead lights on because she was accused of shoplifting from a nearby Walmart. But Garner did not appear to notice, according to body camera footage published by Garner’s attorney Wednesday.
Garner has dementia and sensory aphasia, an inability to understand spoken and written speech, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on her behalf this week against the city of Loveland and three officers involved in Garner’s arrest.
Hopp asked Garner why she didn’t stop after he activated his lights and siren, at which point Garner gave him a blank expression, said something unintelligible, and started to move away.
“No, no, no,” Hopp said, according to bodycam footage.
Hopp then grabbed the 80-pound woman, threw her to the grass, and twisted her arms behind her back, bodycam footage shows. Garner was still clutching a handful of wildflowers. A second cop, Daria Jalali, arrived within minutes and assisted in the arrest.
Then, despite Garner’s evident distress and small stature, Hopp pushed her left arm “painfully upward,” according to body camera footage and the lawsuit. Police repeatedly threw her on the ground, and hog-tied her on the side of the road—a controversial restraint that’s been banned by some police departments.(snip)
“I’m going home,” Garner cried repeatedly.
As a result of the incident, Garner was left with a dislocated shoulder, a fractured humerus bone, and a sprained wrist, the lawsuit alleges. She was covered with bruises by the time she arrived at
(Excerpt) Read more at vice.com ...
Did my wife/grandma just shoplift and ‘become physical’ the Walmart employee who tried to stop them.
You didn’t read the story and just watched the video, right?
BaCk tHe BlUe
Anybody going to defend the arrest?
I guess this is your attempt to apologize for you anti-combat veteran slur. PTSD doesn’t cause veterans to go nuts, despite all the goofy movies like Rambo.
PTSD is the normal mental reaction to sustained shocks and fear. It causes those of us who lived through combat to have the “flinches” at loud, unexpected noises, bad dreams, and sometimes causes some veterans to drink more than they should.
Don’t really need the “bystanders” who never served in any war to smear those of us who did with this garbage.
So how did her arm get broken and shoulder dislocated? They did more damage than ChAuvin.
Please come up for air.
Ever hear of discretion along with escalation of force?
Worlds full of jerks, they seem normal.
How about you hold her gently by the arm until a female officer arrives to gingerly place her into the car? She's as threatening as dryer lint.
Couldn’t he have just given her a lift home, maybe called someone if she had a cell phone? Coulda, woulda, shoulda.... 🙄
So she was out on the loose without her yellow warning vest to advise everyone that she was not normal and should be treated with caution.
I have,read multiple stories. It’s not the first time it’s been posted.
No excuse. This from someone with 4 cops in our family and multiple veterans including a General.
Why didn’t Wal Mart employees detain her at the store....she was caught shoplifting and got physical with an employee.
What’d she do just walk away?
Common sense is lacking today.
“Its OK. BLM won’t be protesting
this one.”
The Bureau of Land Management
might. They don’t like flower
pickers.
She offered to pay. They refused but took back the items.
Again, the end result of lowering standards for cops to allow for more women and minorites.
There’s a reason they’re called “pigs”....
if he had done that to my grandmother he would be dead. my whole family would scour that town looking for him.
I always reserve final judgement until all the facts are available. Even with body cam footage, there can be things that aren’t seen or heard that can drastically impact the final analysis.
That said, going just off the body cam video, this appears to be a massive and unnecessary escalation of force. The subject was not combative, threatening, or attempting to flee. Where she was there was no significant risk to safety or property. I can’t speak to this particular officer’s training, but most use-of-force training and policy would dictate containment, isolation, getting backup, and attempting to gain compliance through nonviolent means. If she runs, pulls a weapon, or becomes threatening or combative (i.e. escalates), then escalation on the part of the officer is reasonable, though de-escalation remains preferable unless safety is compromised.
Based just on the camera footage, it doesn’t seem as though this officer has ill intent. I think he simply needs a good bit of retraining on how to properly handle otherwise simple noncompliance situations. My guess is the department will quickly settle any lawsuit filed. You don’t want this footage in front of a jury.
An 80 lb 5 ft woman is about the size of a 12 year old girl. Not exactly threatening size.
And there's someone defending it. How does that boot polish taste?
What kind of cops do they hire there?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.