Former Loveland police officers charged in connection with Karen Garner’s arrest due in court next week and early July
The former Loveland police officers facing criminal charges for their treatment of an elderly woman with dementia who was in their custody are due in court next week and in early July, according to online court records.
Daria Jalali faces charges of failure by a peace officer to intervene and to report use of force, both Class 1 misdemeanors, and official misconduct, a class 2 misdemeanor. A status conference in her case took place Tuesday afternoon and she next has an appearance scheduled for July 12 at 9 a.m.
Under the law enforcement reform bill passed by Colorado’s legislature in June 2020, a conviction or guilty plea for failing to intervene in another officer’s illegal use of force requires permanent revocation of an officer’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board certification, which the board can’t reinstate unless a court exonerates the officer.
Video footage of the June 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, 73 at the time and who has dementia, after she left a Walmart forgetting to pay for items shows Jalali and former officer Austin Hopp forcefully subduing her. Garner’s dementia and sensory aphasia limit her ability to communicate, officials have said.
Other footage of officers’ behavior during the several hours she was in custody shows them mocking the incident and Garner’s injuries, which included a dislocated shoulder and broken arm.
Garner did not receive medical care until much later in the evening.
Hopp faces counts of assault causing serious bodily injury, a Class 3 felony, and attempting to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony. His case has a disposition hearing scheduled for June 24 at 10 a.m.
Hopp and Jalali resigned from the Loveland Police Department at the end of April.
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Garner in mid-April names Hopp, Jalali, former community service officer Tyler Blackett, Sgt. Antolina Hill, Sgt. Philip Metzler and the City of Loveland. Court records show the case is to go to mediation in early July in an attempt to resolve it rather than continuing with litigation, and an attorney for Garner’s family confirmed Tuesday the case’s defendants requested early mediation.
