Colorado officers face charges in arrest of 73-year-old with dementia

Colorado officers are facing charges after allegedly using excessive force against a 73-year-old woman with dementia during an arrest.

The charges were filed by prosecutors with the Eighth Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday, almost a year after the incident occurred, The Denver Post reported.

Former officer Austin Hopp is being charged with second-degree assault and attempt to influence a public servant — both felony charges — as well as a charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

Former officer Daria Jalali is being charged with failing to report excessive use of force, failure to intervene in an excessive use of force and official misconduct, all misdemeanors.

The officers are no longer with the Loveland Police Department after a video emerged showing the officers laughing after the arrest of Karen Garner.

Garner’s shoulder was dislocated during the arrest and she alleges in a lawsuit that the police didn’t get her medical help for hours.

Garner had the police called on her over an unpaid grocery bill. She reportedly walked out of Walmart with around $13 worth of groceries. 

The lawsuit says Garner is now suffering from anxiety from the arrest.

“What little freedom and happiness Ms. Garner enjoyed in her life as an elderly adult with declining mental health was, on June 26, 2020, recklessly and deliberately obliterated by the Loveland Police Department,” the lawsuit states.