Sarah Schielke - The Life & Liberty Law Office | Loveland Police Beat Up, Injure Elderly Woman with Dementia @LifeLibertyLaw | Uploaded April 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
“A little bloody, a little muddy - that's how it works.”
Those are the words of Loveland Police Officer Daria Jalali, said with a smile, after her sergeant asked whether the blood all over hands was her own, or whether it belonged to the 73-year-old disabled woman – Karen Garner – that they had just violently arrested, injured, and hog-tied on the side of the road.
On 4/14/21, civil rights attorney Sarah Schielke of The Life & Liberty Law Office in Loveland, Colorado filed on Plaintiff Karen Garner’s behalf a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Loveland Police Department and officers Austin Hopp, Daria Jalali, and Sergeant Phil Metzler for this outrageous attack and assault. The lawsuit also includes claims for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and claims targeting Loveland’s failures to train regarding the use of force on disabled unarmed citizens.
Ms. Garner is 73 years old and suffers from dementia and sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to verbally communicate and understand others’ communications. She is five feet tall and weighs 80 pounds. On the afternoon of June 26, 2020, she was walking through a field to her home two blocks away, picking wildflowers, bothering no one, when Officer Hopp pulled up behind her, and called out to her to stop and talk to him. When she indicated she did not understand him, and turned to continue walking home, he grabbed her and violently assaulted her, twisting her arms behind her back, throwing her to the ground and handcuffing her. Just eight seconds passed between Officer Hopp reaching Ms. Garner and Officer Hopp throwing her tiny body to the ground and putting her in handcuffs.
Defendant Officer Jalali then arrived and assisted Officer Hopp in violently and needlessly dislocating Ms. Garner’s shoulder, fracturing her humerus, and spraining her wrist. Then they threw her onto the ground again and hog-tied her. Throughout this attack, the only thing the terrified, disabled and injured Ms. Garner was able to utter was “I’m going home!” She cried out these words over 38 times.
What little freedom and happiness Ms. Garner enjoyed in her life as an elderly adult with declining mental health was, on June 26, 2020, obliterated by the Loveland Police Department. She has become withdrawn, depressed, afraid to go outdoors. She has lost most functional use of her left arm and now requires assistance to shower and get dressed. The district attorney’s office completely dismissed the case and charges against her. And despite the entire event being captured on bodyworn cameras, not one officer or supervisor involved in the violations of her civil rights at Loveland has been disciplined.
“Ms. Garner’s experience with Loveland Police is not about bad apples,” says her attorney, Sarah Schielke. “It is about culture. And the culture in Loveland is one of lack of care, lack of humility. Loveland Police officers have enrobed themselves with a completely unaccountable authoritarian superiority. They demand total obedience and submission from everyone – including the disabled elderly – and if you don’t immediately capitulate, they will make you pay for it."
“This is not community policing. This is community terrorism,” says Schielke. “Ms. Garner is one of the most vulnerable members of our community – a mother, a grandmother, a tiny, frail human with cognitive disabilities – and they treated her like an animal.” “And,” adds Schielke, “if this is what they’re doing to a terrified elderly lady with dementia, what do you think they’re doing to everyone else?”
The complete unedited video from Hopp’s bodyworn camera is available at:
youtu.be/VG0wfPMMR4k
This is not the first time Loveland Police have been sued for the violent takedown of a disabled citizen (also resulting in a dislocated shoulder). Just this past year they faced a lawsuit in Sowl v. City of Loveland, video from that incident viewable here:
youtu.be/P-5HewucBxw
Mr. Sowl’s case settled without any admission of fault or liability from Loveland in January for $290,000.
NOTICE: The Life & Liberty Law Office DOES authorize the use, reuse, republication and retransmission of any of the videos on this channel for public interest and reporting purposes.
lifeandlibertylaw.com
“A little bloody, a little muddy - that's how it works.”
Those are the words of Loveland Police Officer Daria Jalali, said with a smile, after her sergeant asked whether the blood all over hands was her own, or whether it belonged to the 73-year-old disabled woman – Karen Garner – that they had just violently arrested, injured, and hog-tied on the side of the road.
On 4/14/21, civil rights attorney Sarah Schielke of The Life & Liberty Law Office in Loveland, Colorado filed on Plaintiff Karen Garner’s behalf a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Loveland Police Department and officers Austin Hopp, Daria Jalali, and Sergeant Phil Metzler for this outrageous attack and assault. The lawsuit also includes claims for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and claims targeting Loveland’s failures to train regarding the use of force on disabled unarmed citizens.
Ms. Garner is 73 years old and suffers from dementia and sensory aphasia, which impairs her ability to verbally communicate and understand others’ communications. She is five feet tall and weighs 80 pounds. On the afternoon of June 26, 2020, she was walking through a field to her home two blocks away, picking wildflowers, bothering no one, when Officer Hopp pulled up behind her, and called out to her to stop and talk to him. When she indicated she did not understand him, and turned to continue walking home, he grabbed her and violently assaulted her, twisting her arms behind her back, throwing her to the ground and handcuffing her. Just eight seconds passed between Officer Hopp reaching Ms. Garner and Officer Hopp throwing her tiny body to the ground and putting her in handcuffs.
Defendant Officer Jalali then arrived and assisted Officer Hopp in violently and needlessly dislocating Ms. Garner’s shoulder, fracturing her humerus, and spraining her wrist. Then they threw her onto the ground again and hog-tied her. Throughout this attack, the only thing the terrified, disabled and injured Ms. Garner was able to utter was “I’m going home!” She cried out these words over 38 times.
What little freedom and happiness Ms. Garner enjoyed in her life as an elderly adult with declining mental health was, on June 26, 2020, obliterated by the Loveland Police Department. She has become withdrawn, depressed, afraid to go outdoors. She has lost most functional use of her left arm and now requires assistance to shower and get dressed. The district attorney’s office completely dismissed the case and charges against her. And despite the entire event being captured on bodyworn cameras, not one officer or supervisor involved in the violations of her civil rights at Loveland has been disciplined.
“Ms. Garner’s experience with Loveland Police is not about bad apples,” says her attorney, Sarah Schielke. “It is about culture. And the culture in Loveland is one of lack of care, lack of humility. Loveland Police officers have enrobed themselves with a completely unaccountable authoritarian superiority. They demand total obedience and submission from everyone – including the disabled elderly – and if you don’t immediately capitulate, they will make you pay for it."
“This is not community policing. This is community terrorism,” says Schielke. “Ms. Garner is one of the most vulnerable members of our community – a mother, a grandmother, a tiny, frail human with cognitive disabilities – and they treated her like an animal.” “And,” adds Schielke, “if this is what they’re doing to a terrified elderly lady with dementia, what do you think they’re doing to everyone else?”
The complete unedited video from Hopp’s bodyworn camera is available at:
youtu.be/VG0wfPMMR4k
This is not the first time Loveland Police have been sued for the violent takedown of a disabled citizen (also resulting in a dislocated shoulder). Just this past year they faced a lawsuit in Sowl v. City of Loveland, video from that incident viewable here:
youtu.be/P-5HewucBxw
Mr. Sowl’s case settled without any admission of fault or liability from Loveland in January for $290,000.
NOTICE: The Life & Liberty Law Office DOES authorize the use, reuse, republication and retransmission of any of the videos on this channel for public interest and reporting purposes.
lifeandlibertylaw.com
