Officer Austin Hopp, the Loveland Police Department officer who arrested 73-year-old Karen Garner in 2020, can be seen laughing with other officers in newly released footage as he reviews body camera video from her arrest — an arrest that has prompted a civil rights lawsuit against the Loveland Police Department and several of its employees.
Garner’s attorney released the footage along with new information on Garner’s detention at the Loveland police station immediately after her arrest. With the new information also came an amended complaint, which added officer Tyler Blackett and Sgt. Antolina Hill to the lawsuit.
Loveland police officials have declined to comment on the incident and the new information as the investigation into the arrest proceeds, saying they trust the “due process.”
According to a press release from Sarah Schielke, the attorney representing Karen Garner in her lawsuit against the Police Department and several officers over her arrest June 26, 2020, several officers can be seen laughing while reviewing body camera footage from the arrest. Garner’s family hired a sound engineer to enhance the audio in the booking area videos.
According to the release, city officials have yet to send any apology to Garner or her family.
After the lawsuit was filed, officer Hopp was placed on administrative leave, and assisting officer Daria Jalali and supervising Sgt. Phil Metzler were moved to administrative duties. Two days after the lawsuit and video from the arrest went public, police Chief Bob Ticer spoke publicly about Garner’s arrest, saying he wanted the investigation into the incident to be as transparent as possible.
In newly released surveillance video footage that Schielke posted to the Life and Liberty Law Office YouTube page, Hopp can be seen laughing with other LPD officers when watching his body camera footage from the arrest of the 80-pound, 5-foot-tall woman who reportedly suffers from dementia. He can be seen early on fist-bumping Jalali over the arrest.
The 14-minute “compilation” video includes video footage of the booking area where LPD officers worked and where Garner was being held. The full hourlong surveillance footage from the booking area also can be found on the Life and Liberty Law Office YouTube channel.
Early in the video, Blackett can be heard asking if Hopp read Garner her Miranda rights when arresting her.
“Nope,” he responds. “I did not.”
Later in the released footage, the officers are seen watching Hopp’s body camera footage together while laughing about the incident. As Hopp watches, he can be heard laughing, and he “celebrates” with Jalali and Blackett.
In the video, Jalali can be heard saying that “bodycams are my favorite thing to watch.” Just minutes later she can be seen pulling her hat down over her face, saying, “I hate this.”
“This is great,” Hopp responds.
“Ready for the pop? Hear the pop?” Hopp can be heard saying about the apparent dislocation of Garner’s shoulder. According to the release, Garner was handcuffed to a bench just 10 feet away from them at the time.
“This horrific statement comes to light after Ms. Garner’s family hired a sound engineer to enhance the
audio on Loveland police station booking videos from the day of Karen’s arrest,” the release said. “It is not the only grotesque revelation to come from these booking station videos.”
According to the release, during the first hour Garner was in custody, she can be heard saying “they hurt my shoulders” 22 times, “they hurt my wrists” 13 times, “they keep hurting” eight times and “it hurts” eight times. Garner was allegedly not given any medical treatment while at the Loveland police station.
The release also included several new allegations against the department and its members. It says that a BlueTeam report was filed for Garner’s arrest — a system that alerts the department and creates an official record whenever force is used in an arrest.
Ticer has previously said when an incident occurs that requires any use of force beyond just handcuffing and arresting, it is entered into the BlueTeam system, which is then sent through a supervisory review within the department as well as with the assistant city attorney.
Ticer said April 16 that the BlueTeam system was in use at the time of Garner’s arrest, but the department at the time did not have “information about injury.”
Ticer said department officials did not learn about the woman’s injuries until the lawsuit was filed and information posted online. However, Ticer said when the department was notified of Garner’s “serious bodily injury” when the case was filed, the department took “immediate action” to review and investigate the incident.
“Well, regardless, BlueTeam has it,” Hopp can be heard saying in the booking area surveillance video. “I used force, so.”
The new release also alleges that Metzler, the supervisor on scene when Garner was arrested, knew she was injured and authorized that she be kept in a cell without medical evaluation or treatment at the department, “even coming through to check on the status of the report writing and knowing (Garner) was still locked away and injured mere feet away,” the release says.
Hill, another supervising officer who has been added to the complaint, allegedly came through the booking area while Garner was being held and personally reviewed Hopp’s affidavit describing his use of force. She allegedly notarized it, laughed and “joined in on jokes that were being made regarding Ms. Garner’s age and small size, her injuries, and the fact that the hobble (hog-tie) used on her got her blood on it and so would ‘need to be washed,'” according to the press release.
On Sunday, Schielke’s office filed an amended complaint for the excessive-force lawsuit, adding Hill and Blackett as defendants for their “failure to intervene or provide medical care to Ms. Garner.”
“Loveland knew. They’ve known all along,” Schielke said in the release. “They failed Karen Garner. They failed the community. And they did it all on camera. Do you realize how horrifying that is? That means they were used to getting away with it. That the comfortable norm in Loveland is one of zero accountability. That this is not just some ‘isolated incident.’ It is not just one single ‘problem.’ It is widespread, sociopathic criminality. And to attempt to shift the burden to Karen, or a bystander, or her family, or counsel, to report this? Shame on you, Loveland. You took an oath to protect and serve.
“This is a disgrace.”
Loveland police officials said in a statement Monday morning that they would not be making any comments on the newly released footage and information.
According to Tom Hacker, spokesman for the department, all matters related to Garner’s arrest are “subject to a criminal investigation” ordered by the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office and conducted by Fort Collins Police Services.
“The district attorney’s action and the third-party investigation are in keeping with a multi-agency Critical Incident Response Team protocol,” Hacker told the Reporter-Herald. “Independent comment from the Loveland Police Department would not be appropriate at this time. LPD has faith in the due process that this investigation allows for.”
Garner’s arrest in 2020 allegedly resulted in a dislocated shoulder, and fractured arm, sprained wrist and other lesser injuries. The Police Department and the incident itself will be investigated by the City of Loveland as well as the District Attorney’s Office.
