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LOVELAND, Colo. (KDVR) — Former Loveland police officer Austin Hopp, who was sentenced to five years in prison last May, was denied acceptance to a halfway house on Wednesday, according to a Weld County spokesperson.

Garner’s family reached out to the Problem Solvers last week when they got a spontaneous notice of a hearing with Weld County Community Corrections for Hopp.

The Weld County spokesperson confirmed that the Community Corrections Facility’s three-person board voted unanimously not to accept Hopp.

According to the Garner family, the panel cited a lack of effort to rehabilitate himself as part of the basis for the rejection. Weld County said that the board noted there were no area ties to Weld County, and it posed a possible negative impact on the community.

So far, Hopp has served nine months of his five-year sentence. He will be able to plead his case to other community correction facilities and boards this year, but the timeline for when he can do so is unclear.

The Larimer County District Attorney’s Office released this statement on Wednesday:

Our office asked the case prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Matt Maillaro, to attend the community corrections placement hearing of former police officer Austin Hopp in Weld County. The District Attorney’s office advocated against his placement in the Community Corrections program and asserted that Hopp should serve the entirety of his sentence in a prison setting until he is considered for mandatory parole.

We stand by the family of Karen Garner and agree that release at this early stage would subvert the intent of the sentence and not be in the best interest of justice. The Weld County Community Corrections board agreed and quickly denied Hopp’s request.

Larimer County District Attorney’s Office

Hopp involved in rough arrest of woman with dementia

On June 26, 2020, Hopp arrested Karen Garner who had been accused of stealing from Walmart. Garner, then 73, has dementia and according to the affidavit for the arrest, “indicated an obvious deficiency in Garner’s comprehension of her surroundings.”

Body camera video obtained after a lawsuit was filed on Garner’s behalf showed Hopp, who can be heard saying, “Ma’am, I don’t think you want to play it this way,” as he appears to stop his patrol vehicle and approach Garner.

“You just left Walmart, do you need to be arrested right now?” Hopp asked.

“I’m going home,” Garner responded repeatedly.

Within a few seconds, Garner was on the ground being handcuffed and moments later a second officer arrived on scene.

Garner was walked to the patrol car in cuffs, and she repeatedly said, “I’m going home.” Both officers took Garner out of the patrol vehicle, put her on the ground and proceeded to use restraints to tie her feet together.

During the arrest, officers dislocated Garner’s shoulder and fractured her wrist, which is shown in the video along with the officers joking about the incident.

The City of Loveland settled a lawsuit with Garner for $3 million in September of 2021. Hopp resigned in April of that year and was charged with felony assault, attempting to influence a public servant and official misconduct in May of 2021.