Loveland Colorado Thug cop Austin Hopp
Austin Hopp encountered Garner near a Walmart in June 2020. Workers had called police to report that Garner left the store without paying for several small items, and Hopp approached her as she picked flowers along the side of a nearby road.
As he exited his vehicle, Hopp began speaking to Garner, who shrugged in confusion and began walking away from him. At that point, Hopp grabbed her arms from behind and forced her to the ground.
Body camera footage shows that Hopp then pushed Garner against the hood of his car, and she attempted to turn around while repeating that she was going home. Hopp then pushed her back against the car and moved her bent left arm up near her head, saying, “Are you finished? Are you finished? We don’t play this game.”
Garner’s health and memory deteriorated quickly after the assault, her children said Thursday during the sentencing hearing. She was living independently at the time of the arrest and now lives in a memory care facility and has post-traumatic stress disorder from the assault.
“This made the disease progress much faster, taking that much more time away from us,” said John Stewart, her son.
Larimer County District Court Judge Michelle Brinegar entered the five-year prison sentence with an additional three years of parole and said Hopp inflicted harm not only on Garner and her family, but on the community as a whole.
Hopp’s actions were “deliberate, deceitful and calculated” and Hopp failed to take accountability or mitigate the harm he caused in the hours and days that followed the assault, Brinegar said.
Ready for the Pop?’: Cop Who Laughed at Video of His Violent Arrest of Woman With Dementia Is Sentenced
When the two officers got back to the precinct, they joked about the arrest with Hopp laughing, saying “Ready for the pop?” before Garner’s shoulder audibly popped out of place on the video. Other officers laughed at the footage and joked about the arrest and her struggle, according to surveillance video in the police station. “I think it was her shoulder,” Hopp then said, adding, “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground.”
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