THE THIN BLUE LINE
The charges stem from the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner by former officer Austin Hopp. Hopp was dispatched to a local Walmart on the report of attempted shoplifting. Garner, who returned the items before leaving the store, was thrown to the ground by Hopp after failing to comply with orders to stop walking. She is heard repetitively telling Hopp she was going home, advocates for those living with dementia say her confusion was apparent and should’ve changed how Hopp and Daria Jalali responded.
Hopp, who is now serving time behind bars for breaking Garner’s arm, separating her shoulder and spraining her wrist.
Jalali was charged with her failure to intervene with Hopp’s actions and also her failure to report injuries as Garner sat in a nearby cell for hours without medical attention.
Jalali arrived on scene as former Loveland officer Austin Hopp violently arrested 73-year-old Karen Garner. Staff at a Loveland Walmart called 911 to report that Garner had attempted to walk out of the store with $13 of merchandise, though she returned the items before leaving.
Hopp contacted her as she walked home. Within 30 seconds, he forced the 5-foot-2-inch, 80-pound grandmother to the ground, handcuffed her and, with the help of Jalali, held her against his police cruiser. Hopp wrenched Garner’s arm backward as Jalali yelled at Garner, who repeatedly told the officers she was trying to go home.
The officers later laughed about the incident and ignored Garner’s pleas for help while she was locked in a holding cell.
Back at the station, Hopp and Jalali laugh and fist bump while watching video of the arrest.
Ready for the pop?
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.”
The back of Karen Garner’s arm.
Daria Jalali’s attorney put on an unusual defense of his client:
Jalali’s defense spoke to the judge saying that her personal records of employment show she didn’t know better due to a lack of training and accountability from Loveland Police. Her lawyer argued that the department’s willingness to allow her to continue to patrol when she wasn’t qualified for the job was partially to blame for her actions the day of Garner’s arrest.
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.
This is a follow up to a series of five discussions, the last one titled:
