https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iuuyg94-yI
Posted on 08/06/2022 11:00:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Another former Loveland police officer will spend time behind bars for her role in the violent arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia.
Daria Jalali was sentenced to 45 days in jail by a Larimer County judge on Friday after pleading guilty to failing to intervene in the use of excessive force in June. She will serve an additional three years of parole following her release. The sentencing is the latest development in the legal saga stemming from the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, which was captured on body-worn camera and widely circulated online.
“(Jalali) made poor choices that day and had numerous opportunities to stop this and do the right thing,” said John Steward, Garner’s son, during Friday’s sentencing hearing. “I believe this will give her the time to reflect on her actions and how her actions affected my mom and her wellbeing.”
Jalali helped another Loveland officer, Austin Hopp, restrain Garner as the 73-year-old walked home from a local Walmart. Employees at the store had reported her for taking several small items without paying, including a tshirt, candy and a Pepsi.
As Hopp pushed Garner against the hood of his patrol car, Jalali arrived to assist him. Body camera footage shows Jalali pressing her hands on Garner to control her, yelling “quit!” as the 73-year-old struggled to free herself.
“Stand up, we’re not going to hold you,” Jalali said after Garner fell to the ground.
Jalali later helped carry Garner from the patrol car to a holding cell as Garner yelled “ow” repeatedly.
The arrest left Garner with a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and bruises. Garner was living independently at the time of the arrest, but now lives in a memory care facility.
Last September, the city settled a federal lawsuit brought by Garner’s family for $3 million, and in May, Hopp was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, attorneys for Garner’s family replayed video footage of Jalali assisting in her arrest. Family members grew emotional as they testified about the lasting impacts of the arrest on Garner.
“My mom changed that day,” Steward, her son, said. “She has, since that time, developed PTSD. The trauma, in my opinion, made her (dementia) progress even faster.”
Attorneys for Jalali argued that, for years, she received improper training from superiors at the Loveland Police Department. Jalali failed multiple tests throughout her employment, including ones for defensive control techniques that officers learn for both their safety and the safety of others during arrests.
“She was given passes and she was pressed forward repeatedly by this department when she was falling below really where she should have been with the standards,” said Anna Geigle, her attorney.
Jalali also apologized to Garner and her family during Friday’s sentencing. In her testimony, she told the judge that she was unaware the 73-year-old was suffering from dementia when she arrived at the scene mid-arrest.
“I should have confronted officer Hopp about it immediately to ask what was going on to cause her the apparent pain and distress,” Jalali said.
Once Garner was in a police vehicle, Jalali began asking her for identification and whether she needed medical assistance, she recalled.
“But (Garner) did not respond to me,” Jalali said. “I kept asking, but I did not know that her lack of response was for any reason other than being uncooperative.”
Judge Joshua Lehman, in response to Jalali’s testimony, acknowledged the complexities of the situation, but said it was “incomprehensible” that she and Hopp didn't recognize Garner’s fragile mental and physical state and stop the arrest.
“The video really does make your stomach clench,” Lehman said. “This was an abysmal failure of your duty to protect and serve.”
As a part of her sentencing, Jalali will perform 250 hours of community service. She will also be banned from pursuing future employment in law enforcement in any state.
Sarah Schielke, the attorney representing Garner’s family, said that the case is an example of a broader problem in police departments across the country.
“The rest of the cops in our communities turning a blind eye to their own fellow officers’ misconduct better learn something from this,” she said. “Because if they don’t, I’ll be coming for them next.”
Exhibit A for why body cams should be mandatory for any officer not doing undercover or confidential work. On at all times, period.
>> “My mom changed that day,” Steward, her son, said. “She has, since that time, developed PTSD. The trauma, in my opinion, made her (dementia) progress even faster.”
Doubtful.
But a horrifying experience nonetheless.
Why doubtful?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iuuyg94-yI
Complete booking video => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iuuyg94-yI
Should be - “left her handcuffed on the bench for an hour”
Increasing numbers of studies are showing that PTSD level stress can exacerbate/accelerate the development of dementia, Alzheimers and similar diseases. Just FYI.
I’m not aware of physical nor emotional stress contributing to the rate of decline. The daughter’s ability to predict the progression of dementia over time is highly unlikely.
That’s an opinion based on experience and a layman’s understanding of the disease. And I have no problem being corrected.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the victim had no recollection of the incident hours later.
Appreciated. I’ll follow up on the link.
Not very often you see cops use the "I really suck at my job and never should have been out there" defense.
Also an indictment of her department... maybe she’s angling to sue her department to recover some of the costs of her defense and fine.
Why is it that every time something bad happens, there is somebody with a name like that on a government payroll who is part of the problem or part of the cover-up? Only Keith Ellison goes by his "Toby" name.
Quite possible. Being a female minority likely had a lot to do with her shortcomings being overlooked.
Her lawyer also argued the she’s too stupid to be a cop.
“Her lawyer argued that a neurological evaluation of Jalali showed she wasn’t mentally capable of processing verbal and visual content at a rapid enough pace to handle the situation as it unfolded. “Her actions in this case were not malicious or intentional,” her lawyer said.”
I think it would be an interesting precedent if she were to successfully sue for the department giving her a pass repeatedly because she was incompetent/female/a minority. Would get real interesting for certain departments - they’d be caught between the Scylla of diversity mandates and the Charybdis of legal liability for continuing to employ unqualified officers.
She sure doesn’t look 73
Not guilty by neurological short comings?
To stupid to be a cop? Man that is an indictment of police hiring practices. /s
“I’m not aware of physical nor emotional stress contributing to the rate of decline. The daughter’s ability to predict the progression of dementia over time is highly unlikely.”
I deal with this concerning my Father. Traumatic experiences become embedded into their subconscious like firmware coding. They relive it over and over in their sleep forever even if their awake conscious mind does not remember it.
So they never actually sleep, and this does indeed add to decline because of the perpetual lack of any sound sleep. And here is something few know. Using any type of sleep aid does not work on the unconscious mind of a dementia patient. Their conscious mind might be asleep, but their unconscious mind never sleeps.
When my Father is not consciously awake his unconscious mind makes him hallucinate and relive events all night long. He never sleeps no matter what we have tried. Just doesn’t work. In fact some sleep aids made it even worse.
Absolutely despicable behavior. Very, very glad these people are going to prison.
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