Ex-officer sentenced in rough arrest of woman with dementia

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A former Colorado police officer who didn’t cease one other officer from being rough with a 73-year-old woman with dementia was sentenced Friday to 45 days in jail and three years of probation.

Daria Jalali earlier pleaded responsible in the arrest of Karen Garner in Loveland, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Denver, in 2020. She had confronted as much as 60 days in jail for failing to intervene, against the law created by lawmakers as half of a police reform invoice handed throughout protests over racial injustice and police brutality in 2020.

Former officer Austin Hopp arrested Garner after she left a retailer with out paying for about $14 price of objects. Police physique digicam video launched final year exhibits Garner repeatedly saying that she was attempting to go residence.

After Garner turns away from him, the footage exhibits Hopp grabbing her arm and pushing her to the bottom and handcuffing her. Later, he pushed her in opposition to the hood of his automobile and, after she tries to show round, he strikes her bent left up arm up close to her head. Soon after, Garner started to hunch towards the bottom. Jalali, who arrived after Garner was handcuffed, says, “Stand up! We’re not going to hold you.”

Hopp was sentenced in May to 5 years in jail for his remedy of Garner. Loveland settled a lawsuit filed by Garner for $3 million. Her household has mentioned her situation deteriorated after her arrest and she or he requires around-the-clock care in consequence.

Jalali apologized to Garner and her household in court docket, the Loveland Reporter-Herald reported. She informed Judge Joshua Lehman that she thought Garner was intoxicated and believed Garner was solely complaining about her handcuffs so she might get out of them.

“I wanted to be a good police officer and my heart was in the right place, but I still came up short,” she mentioned.

Jalali’s lawyer, Anna Geigle, mentioned Loveland police and one other division let her keep on the job regardless of a sample of poor efficiency recorded in her personnel information. A neuropsychological analysis confirmed Jalali didn’t have the “psychological makeup” to behave with the precision and consciousness anticipated of law enforcement officials, she mentioned.

Lehman mentioned Jalali ought to have identified Garner was a “delicate” woman affected by a psychological well being situation.

“She just sounds out of it and terrified to me,” he mentioned after watching physique digicam footage from the arrest for the primary time in court docket. “The fact that two law enforcement officers couldn’t comprehend that is incomprehensible to me.”

Garner’s son, John Steward, informed the decide Jalali had no concept of the stress, ache and disappointment the arrest has brought about his household.

“We all have choices to make in life, and all our choices have consequences,” he mentioned. “I ask that justice be served for my mom today.”