Ex-officer gets 5-year term for assault

DENVER — A former Colorado police officer shown on body-camera video roughly arresting a 73-year-old woman with dementia and later seen joking about it with colleagues was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.

Austin Hopp arrested Karen Garner in 2020 after she left a store without paying for about $14 worth of items in Loveland. The police video shows that after she turned away from him, he grabbed her arm and pushed her to the ground, still holding the flowers she had been picking as she walked through a field.

Hopp had faced anywhere from probation up to eight years behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in March under a plea deal that was opposed by Garner’s family.

The footage shows that when Hopp had Garner pushed against the hood of his car, she tried to turn around and repeated that she was trying to go home. He then pushed her back against the car and moved her bent left arm up near her head, holding it, saying, “Are you finished? Are you finished? We don’t play this game.”

A federal lawsuit claimed he dislocated her shoulder. The city settled the suit for $3 million, which Garner’s family has said will pay for the around-the-clock care she has required after her condition deteriorated following her arrest.