A 73-year-old woman with dementia has been arrested after she forgot to pay for her groceries at a supermarket.
The police officer who left Karen Garner with a fractured arm has been suspended after he arrested the elderly woman and pushed her to the ground.
According to the Greely Tribune reports, Walmart employees had stopped the woman at the exit and took the items back even though she requested to pay for the items.
But while Garner was walking on her way home, police officers from Loveland Police caught up with the 73-year-old, who appeared to be very confused in the bodycam footage.
In the video, Officer Hopp can be seen dragging the elderly woman to the ground as she screamed: “I’m going home.”
Officer Jalali can be heard saying, “Quit it!” as she pulled Garner’s arm behind her back. A snapping sound was heard on the footage and the elderly woman cried out in pain.
An attorney has since filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the woman.
Arresting officer Austin Hopp was placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
The Loveland Police Department also said that assisting officer Daria Jalali and supervising sergeant Phil Metzler have been reassigned to administrative duties.
The department said in a statement: “LPD takes very seriously the allegations concerning the arrest of resident Karen Garner, and shares with the community the concerns about video images that became public on Wednesday.”
Atty. Sarah Schielke submitted the suit and alleged Garner suffered “a fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder” because of the cops’ use of “excessive force.”
Another part of the video shows a driver stopping to ask about the brutal arrest.
The passerby asked the officers: “Do you have to use that much aggression?”
But Officer Hopp replied: “Get out of here! This is not your business!”
The 73-year-old woman was taken into custody where she was held for hours without any medical attention despite saying that she was in terrible pain.
“It is a hard-to-watch video,” Schielke said to the Reporter-Herald. “It is the opposite of community policing. I thought a lot about this case as I have prepared to file it, and on paper and in the legal pleading it is an excessive-force case. In reality when you watch the video, you see this is a torture case.”
The lawsuit also claims that the arrest violated Garner’s constitutional protections against excessive force and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Replaced!