Screengrab/YouTube
- Colorado cops were seen fist-bumping and laughing while watching body-cam footage of a dementia patient's arrest.
- The officers are accused of breaking the 73-year-old woman's arm.
- Attorneys allege the woman was handcuffed and not given medical attention for hours.
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Two Colorado police officers accused of breaking a dementia patient's arm during a June 2020 arrest were caught on tape fist-bumping and laughing while watching body-cam footage of the incident.
The Loveland Police Department officers, Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali, allegedly dislocated 73-year-old Karen Garner's shoulder and fractured her arm while arresting her outside a Walmart in Colorado.
On Monday, Garner's lawyer, Sarah Schielke, uploaded two videos to YouTube. One shows the officers' bodycam footage of the arrest on June 26, 2020. The other is a 14-minute surveillance-camera clip taken on the same day in the police department's booking area. In the surveillance footage, several officers can be seen celebrating as they review footage of their body-cam videos.
According to the AP, Garner tried to leave a Walmart with around $14 worth of stolen items, including a bottle of soda, a candy bar, and laundry detergent.
The body-cam video released by Garner's lawyers shows two officers approaching Garner outside the Walmart. Hopp can be seen grabbing Garner, pushing her to the ground, and pinning her against the hood of a police patrol car as she tells him repeatedly that she is "going home."
"After a short struggle, she's now detained," Hopp can be heard saying in the body-cam footage.
In the surveillance video, an officer identified as Hopp laughs and says, "Ready for the pop?" as he watches footage of the arrest, referring to the moment where Garner's arm "popped" when he pinned her against the cop car.
The officers can also be heard in the surveillance video speculating if Garner was "senile."
"How do you think it went," Jalali asks Hopp in the surveillance video after fist-bumping him - to which Hopp replies he thought it "went great" and that they "crushed it."
A lawsuit has been filed against three Loveland Police Department police officers - Hopp, Jalali, and Philip Metzler - accusing them of violating Garner's civil rights, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. An excessive force lawsuit has been filed against all three officers, claiming that Garner suffered a fractured arm and that officers failed to provide her with medical care and mental health assistance while she was held at the police station.
Schielke alleged in a video statement that Garner was left in the cell "alone, confused, and crying in pain" for hours before her family was contacted.
Schielke later filed an amended complaint that named two additional officers, Antolina Hill and Tyler Blackett. Hill and Blackett are both accused of not intervening to ensure Garner received medical attention despite the victim being in distress.
A Loveland Police Department spokesman told Insider that Hopp, Jalali, Meltzer, and Blackett have been placed on administrative leave pending criminal investigation. The spokesperson did not provide explanation as to why Hill was not put on administrative leave.
"The criminal inquiry was ordered by 8th Judicial District Attorney, and will be conducted by the DA and an outside police agency - Fort Collins, Colorado, Police Department. Loveland police chief Bob Ticer advocated for the criminal investigation, in consultation with the DA and other police agencies," said the spokesman.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported that the Loveland Police Department initially said it had not received a complaint about the arrest and had no knowledge of any excessive force used.
