Colorado judge throws out sweetheart probation-only sentence for former cop, jails him instead

Austin Hopp, was jailed for five years with another three years of probation, on Thursday

Hopp, 26, violently arrested 80lb grandmother Karen Garner in 2020

The ex-officer of Loveland Police Dept. broke the arm and dislocated the shoulder of a 73-year-old dementia sufferer during violent arrest in July 2020  

Karen Garner had left a Walmart store without paying for about $14 worth of items

Garner, who frequently forgets things, repeated, ‘I’m going home,’ over and over again as the officer shoved her to the ground, breaking her arm in the process

Station footage shows Hopp laughing about the arrest with colleagues as they watch the body cam footage

The city of Loveland settled the case for $3 million in September, 2021

Hopp and his partner during the arrest, Daria Jalili were both fired and charged

He was facing a mandatory prison sentence of between 10 and 32 years under an original, more serious assault charge 

Garner’s family had been infuriated when Hopp was offered a plea deal for light sentence 

He was handed a five year jail sentence instead of getting off with probation 

A disgraced former police officer in Loveland, Colorado, who dislocated a 73-year-old dementia sufferer’s arm during an arrest and later laughed about will now serve jail time for the incident instead of the probation he initially worked into a plea deal.
Judge Michelle Brinegar of Larimer County District Court, handed former LPD officer, Austin Hopp, a five year sentence on Thursday, which the victim’s attorney said “is probably just the right amount of prison” for Mr. Hopp.
The former cop pled guilty to second-degree assault on March 2, in connection with the assault on the elderly woman, Karen Garner, now 75. She sustained sever injuries when she was thrown to the ground and pinned during the 2020 arrest.
Then LPD officer Austin Hopp, 27, and his partner Daria Jalili, 28, were facing criminal charges after their arrest of Karen Garner in July 2020.
During the arrest, then 73-year-old Garner, who also has dementia, suffered a broken arm and dislocated shoulder. Information about the arrest became public in April 2021, when attorney Sarah Schielke filed a civil case against the department alleging excessive use of force.
The suit stated that Austin Hopp violently arrested 80-pound grandmother Karen Garner in 2020 after she left a Walmart store without paying for about $14 worth of items in Loveland, about 50 miles north of Denver. 
Speaking publicly about the assault for the first time during the hearing, Hopp apologized to the victim and her family, according to The Denver Post. He stated that he hadn’t acted out of cruelty or anger during the encounter, but rather had “misjudged” the situation.
“I am truly ashamed of my actions,” he said, according to the newspaper.

The video released by the Loveland Police Department body camera footage shows Karen Garner on the ground while being arrested on June 26, 2020.
Bodycam footage shows Hopp twisting her arm behind her back and as she was still holding the wildflowers she had been picking as she walked through a field.
Garner’s shoulder later allegedly pops out of its socket as she cries in fear and confusion ‘I’m going home!’
Hopp had struck a plea deal to a single charge of second-degree assault, a class four felony, that infuriated Garner’s family by seeing him potentially walk away with only probation.
He had faced a mandatory prison sentence of between 10 and 32 years under an original, more serious assault charge. 
As well as the to five year prison sentence, the judge also ordered Austin Hopp to serve three years of parole during the Thursday May 5, 2022, sentencing hearing.

State District Judge Michelle Brinegar said: ‘Hopp used his position of power and authority to show off his toughness, disregard any sense of humanity, displayed an alarming degree of criminal thinking and caused a great deal of harm and trauma.
‘This case is not about a mistake,’ she said before dishing out the sentence. ‘I do think you are sorry, but I don’t think you get it.’
She also ordered Hopp to serve three years of parole.
Bodycam footage shows that Hopp had Garner pushed against the hood of his car as she struggled to understand what was happening. 
Police station surveillance video released by Garner´s lawyer showed Hopp and others talking and at times laughing or joking about the arrest as they watch the body camera footage with Garner in a holding cell nearby. 
At one point, Hopp told the others to listen for the ‘pop’ during the part of footage when Garner´s shoulder was allegedly dislocated. 

The former Loveland, Colorado police officer was first charged with second degree assault, attempting to influence a public servant and official misconduct last year.
He faced up to 32 years in prison for the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner, a then-73-year-old woman with dementia, who allegedly walked out of a Walmart with less than $14 in products.
Garner, who frequently forgets things, repeated, ‘I’m going home,’ over and over again as the officer shoved her to the ground, breaking her arm in the process

He then pushed her back against the car and moved her bent left arm up near her head, holding it, saying, ‘Are you finished? Are you finished? We don´t play this game.’ 
The video shows the moment Hopp dislocated Garner’s shoulder. She filed a federal lawsuit for a dislocated shoulder, a broken humerus and a sprained wrist. 
Officer Austin Hopp bragged about the arrest as Garner languished in a cell for the next six hours crying out in pain because of a fractured arm and dislocated shoulder. Photos emerged of the elderly lady sitting alone in her cell and in pain.
Meanwhile, Hopp bragged about the arrest, saying, ‘I think it went great. I think we crushed it’ 

The victim’s outraged relatives did not consider the possibility of Hopp getting off with probationary sentencing, as adequate restitution.
‘She had pleas that were ignored,’ Garner’s daughter-in-law Shannon Steward told reporters outside the courthouse during the trial.
‘And we have to come here today to honor him for this plea deal. It’s a slap in the face,’ Steward said.
Prior to the incident, her mother-in-law lived alone with constant monitoring from family who used a tracker on her phone to see where she was. 

She had left it at home the day she was roughed up by Hopp.
Today, she lives in a facility for dementia patients, suffers from PTSD and no longer recognizes her three children and nine grandchildren.
‘Karen would repeat things, she would show me her new bedspread three times while I was visiting, that sort of thing. But she wasn’t leaving the stove on, it wasn’t dangerous. She loved to walk, she loved to be active,’ Steward said.

Steward explained how Garner could not process her ordeal at the hands of Hopp and his partner Daria Jalali during the arrest and would not let anyone near her including doctors and nurses.
Hopp along with Jalali were fired and Jalali, 27, was charged with three misdemeanors for her connection with the 2020 arrest of Karen Garner. Her charges include failure to report an excessive use of force, failure to intervene in the use of excessive force, and first-degree official misconduct.
Hopp was charged with second degree assault, attempting to influence a public servant and official misconduct in May 2021 for the botched arrest.
The charge was reduced after the plea deal.
The city of Loveland settled the case for $3 million in September, 2021, several months after Hopp, Jalali and community service officer Tyler Blackett resigned from their positions in late April, 2021.
Hopp was charged with second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury, a class 3 felony, attempt to influence a public servant, a class 4 felony, and official misconduct, a class 2 misdemeanor. He pled not guilty to the three charges against him in November. The six-day jury trial began in April.
For the victim’s family it is a huge relief that Judge Brinegar still saw fit to impose a jail term on Hopp after the possibility that he would get off with just probation.