“Ready for the pop? Hear the pop?”
These are the words uttered by a Colorado police officer in a newly surfaced video, which shows several cops laughing as they review footage of an arrest in which they allegedly injured a 73-year-old woman with dementia.
Officers Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali of the Loveland Police Department arrested Karen Garner on June 26, 2020. An hourlong video uploaded to YouTube yesterday by the Life & Liberty Law Office shows Hopp, Jalali, and an unnamed third officer gleefully watching the arrest footage while at the police station.
The hourlong video has accumulated more than 120,000 views, while a 15-minute “highlight reel” has earned more than 405,000 views since yesterday.
Police arrested Garner after she accidentally walked out of a Walmart with a little under $14 of unpaid items, according to attorney Sarah Schielke of the Life & Liberty Law Office. Schielke said Garner suffers from dementia and sensory aphasia, which affect her ability to verbally communicate and understand others.
Schielke recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Loveland Police Department, alleging that the officers used excessive force and dislocated Garner’s shoulder during the arrest, according to the Reporter Herald.
The body cam video from the arrest shows Hopp confronting Garner and asking her, “You just left Walmart. Do you need to be arrested right now?” She shrugs her shoulders, visibly confused, and continues walking. Hopp then says, “OK, let’s stop,” forces Garner’s hands behind her back, and shoves her to the ground.
The video later shows Hopp forcing Garner against the hood of a police car and forcing her elbow up at a sharp angle. Garner repeatedly wails, “I’m going home,” as Jalali handcuffs her and tells her to “quit.”
The officers later hogtie Garner and carry her into the station. Schielke says police held her in a cell for hours instead of taking her to a hospital for her injuries.
Not far from the cell where Garner was held, Hopp and Jalali reviewed the arrest footage with a third officer.
“Ready for the pop?” Hopp asks as he and Jalali handcuff Garner. “Hear the pop?”
Hopp and the unidentified officer later bump fists as they continue watching the arrest video. He also admits he didn’t read Garner her Miranda rights.
Meanwhile, at the scene of the arrest, Jalali cheerfully relays that she’s gotten some of Garner’s blood on her.
“They failed Karen Garner,” Schielke said in a Monday press release. “They failed the community. And they did it all on camera. Do you realize how horrifying that is? That means they were used to getting away with it. That the comfortable norm in Loveland is one of zero accountability. That this is not just some ‘isolated incident.’ It is not just one single ‘problem.’ It is widespread, sociopathic criminality. And to attempt to shift the burden to Karen, or a bystander, or her family, or counsel, to report this? Shame on you, Loveland. You took an oath to protect and serve. This is a disgrace.”
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H/T CBS News