Colorado police break arm of woman with dementia during arrest, video shows
A video showing US police violently arresting and breaking the arm of a 73year-old woman suffering from dementia in Colorado has led to a criminal investigation into the officers involved.
Police arrested Karen Garner on 26 June 2020, for allegedly stealing just $13.88 worth of merchandise from a Walmart store in the city of Loveland.
The video shows a police officer pushing Garner to the ground and handcuffing her after she left the store to go home. In the video Garner appears confused and scared and at one stage pleads: “I am going home.”
The arrest caused a fracture in Garner’s arm, a sprain in her wrist and a dislocated shoulder.
The news comes at a time of intense criticism of American policing and the often violent incidents, or lethal shootings, in which officers are involved in.
Officers Austin Hopp, who made the arrest, Daria Jalali, who assisted Hopp, and Sgt Phil Metzler, the on-scene supervisor, are being sued by Garner. The lawsuit includes claims for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and also claims Loveland officers receive “little or no training on interacting with people with disabilities or mental illness”.
The eighth judicial district attorney’s office in Colorado on Monday requested an official review of the incident, according to a statement. “An independent criminal review is appropriate and an investigation of the incident will occur,” it said.
“This is a small, but long overdue, step in the right direction,” Garner’s family said in a statement to the Washington Post.
The Loveland police department is also conducting its own investigation. The Loveland police said in a statement on Thursday that they were not aware of the allegations regarding the arrest until Friday. Hopp was placed on administrative leave, while Jalali and Metzler were reassigned to administrative duties pending the investigation’s outcome.
“The investigation of the event will include an examination of the actions of all officers who may have been involved,” reads the statement by the Loveland police.