LAST LAUGH

Elderly Woman Who Was Bodyslammed by Laughing Cops Gets $3 Million

Karen Lovelace, who suffers from dementia, was thrown to the ground for leaving a Colorado Walmart with unpaid goods. The cops later laughed as they watched the body-cam footage.

A 73-year-old woman with dementia, who was violently thrown to the ground by cops for leaving a Walmart with $13 in unpaid goods, has been awarded $3 million by the Colorado city of Loveland. Karen Garner broke her arm and dislocated her shoulder when the two officers, Austin Hopp and Daria Jalali, tackled her to the ground and handcuffed her. The cops were then caught on camera laughing as they watched the body-cam footage back at the station. “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground,” Hopp said as they joked about her shoulder making a “pop” sound.

Garner’s lawyers released an internal police report on Tuesday showing that several higher-ups deemed the use of force to be reasonable. It contradicted Loveland Police Chief Bob Ticer’s claim that the department only realized how violent the arrest was when Garner filed a civil suit. Hopp and Jalali were charged with criminal offenses in May.