- The United States has agreed to pay $3 million to a woman who was brutally arrested by the police in 2020.
- This 73-year-old man suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.
- A federal lawsuit alleges that her shoulder was dislocated and her arm was broken when she was arrested.
A US city has agreed to pay $3 million to a woman with dementia who was brutally arrested by the police last year. Her family said that the money will now be used to pay for the round-the-clock care she needs after the incident.
In June 2020, 73-year-old Karen Garner left the store in Loveland, Colorado, about 80 kilometers north of Denver, but did not pay for $14 worth of goods. Austin Hopp at the time The police officer arrested her.
Police body camera video showed that after she turned and left, he grabbed her by the arm and pushed her to the ground.
When she walked across the field, she still held the wildflowers she had been picking.
A federal lawsuit filed by Ghana claimed that he dislocated her shoulder and fractured her arm.
Hope pushed Garner onto the hood of his car, and she tried to turn around and repeated that she wanted to go home.
Then he slammed her back on the car, forced her bent left arm to approach her head, held it, and said, “Have you finished? Have you finished? We won’t play this game.”
The civil monetary settlement is one of many legal settlements between American cities and victims. Police violence This has become the focus of attention of local authorities and activists across the country after the “Black Man’s Life is Fate” protests in 2020.
Both the former police officer Hope and the other police officer who helped him face criminal charges of assault. This is a rare consequence of the U.S. police because “Qualified Immunization” Protect the police in most cases.
In June, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin Sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, the death of George Floyd sparked protests in the United States.
Sweep police Reform proposal Stagnation in the U.S. Congress.
Police station surveillance video showed that when Ghana was sitting in the cell, Hope and other police officers were talking about arrests, laughing and joking.
Loveland’s officials apologized to Ghana and her family when announcing the proposed settlement on Wednesday, and listed the measures they took in response to her arrest, including an unresolved independent investigation and the way the case was reviewed when the police used force. Change.
City manager Steve Adams said:
The reconciliation with Karen Garner will help end the unfortunate incident in our community, but it will not disrupt our remaining work.
The announcement was made the day after the death of a 19-year-old man holding a knife and was reportedly in mental health when he was shot and killed by a policeman in Loveland last month In crisis.
An internal report issued by Sarah Schielke, a Ghanaian lawyer, showed that some supervisors had signed Hope’s approval for the use of force in Ghana, and some of them pointed out that they had seen body cameras.
Although the settlement agreement will enable the Ghanaian family to provide her with the best care, Schilke said that complete justice requires a change in leadership.
She said that all those involved in Ghana’s arrest or creating an environment where this could happen should be unemployed. She said that if the city’s police chief resigns or is fired next month, she is willing to report to dementia or Alzheimer’s. The disease charity donated 50,000 US dollars.
Chief Bob Taser told the Denver Post that he did not plan to step down.
“I understand this sentiment, I understand these requirements,” he said.
But my responsibility here is to ensure that the ongoing investigation (in relation to the Ghana incident) is handled professionally.
Ghana is a mother of three children and a grandmother of nine children. Her daughter-in-law Shannon Steward said that since the next day she kept asking why this happened to her, she hadn’t talked about it. Things.
“I don’t want to see this happen to anyone else’s family again. I don’t want to see it,” said Alisha Swartz, a daughter of Ghana, with a branch of wildflowers pinned to her shirt, Steward. is also like this.
Schilke said that Ghana did not know about the settlement agreement. Due to her physical condition, the agreement must be approved by the probate court and managed by the protector.
At a court hearing last month, Hope’s lawyer Jonathan Datz argued that the police chief thought his behavior was acceptable.
A representative from Datz’s office declined to comment to the Associated Press on the city’s settlement proposal, which is separate from criminal proceedings.
Based on his arrest testimony, investigators discovered that Hope had submitted a report to mislead his superiors and protect himself. He did not mention the shoulder injury in Ghana in his initial report.
