A 73-year-old woman with dementia sat in a jail cell for six long hours and cried out for help more than 50 times in the first hour alone while Colorado cops laughed at bodycam footage showing them breaking her arm and dislocating her shoulder.
Karen Garner screamed: ‘They hurt my shoulders’ 22 times, ‘It hurts’ eight times, ‘They keep hurting’ eight times, and ‘They hurt my wrists’ 13 times in the first hour alone.
According to the lawsuit against the city of Loveland police department, the woman was arrested at 4:36 pm but a family member only found out about her arrest and severe injuries at around 10:30 pm when she was transported to a hospital where staff made the call.
Garner was arrested after a Walmart in Colorado called the police when she tried to exit the store without paying for her items.
The store told police that they managed to get all the items back and did not suffer any loss.
Garner was picking flowers by the side of the road when the officers arrived.
They slammed her to the ground and arrested her as she sobbed in confusion.
The woman was then taken to the police station where she sat in a cell for six hours without medical care.
Officers were caught on camera laughing and joking about her arrest while she could be heard crying and begging for help.
“For the six hours that Ms. Garner was kept in custody by Loveland and the jail, despite many jokes made about her being disabled and mentally unfit, no one attempted to locate Ms. Garner’s caregiver, console or help her, de-escalate her, or alert her loved ones to her terrible situation,” the lawsuit says.
The 73-year-old was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, a fractured arm, and a sprained wrist, and she was covered in bruises and scrapes.
Her lawyer Sarah Shielke told Daily Mail that she has never regained full mobility in her arm.
Garner’s family said in a statement that the silence of the Loveland Police Department is unacceptable.
“What more could anyone need to see after watching these videos?” they told Daily Mail. “They care more about protecting their officers and themselves than they do about the people they’ve hurt.”
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