Advocates say the case puts a spotlight on how ill-prepared police are when encountering someone with a mental disability.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This was one of the viral videos of police activity in 2020. Almost a year ago, a 73-year-old woman with dementia was violently arrested by police in Loveland, Colo. The officers have since resigned and are facing criminal charges. The woman's lawyer says officers dislocated and fractured her shoulder. As police departments face pressure to examine the use of force, this arrest has highlighted a problem. Police often lack the skills to interact with disabled people. From KUNC in northern Colorado, Leigh Paterson reports.

LEIGH PATERSON, BYLINE: At a public meeting last month, Loveland resident June Dryth told the police chief why she thinks he should resign.

JUNE DRYTH: I've been talking to a lot of elderly people in my neighborhood, especially women, that are now seriously - and I'm not joking - they are seriously afraid of the police department.

PATERSON: Body camera footage released in April shows the arrest of the tiny 73-year-old woman named Karen Garner.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHVIED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Ma'am, police. Stop.

PATERSON: She had just tried to leave a Walmart store without paying for $14 worth of items. Afterwards, a police officer wrestled her into handcuffs.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: No. No, no - on the ground. Stay on the ground.

KAREN GARNER: I'm going home.

PATERSON: I'm going home, she said several times before he forced her into his car. Garner has since filed a federal lawsuit alleging police used excessive force and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when they injured her and then left her in jail for hours.

JIM BURCH: We have to do much, much better at being able to recognize these types of issues and being more sensitive to them.

PATERSON: Jim Burch heads up the National Police Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on research and training. Right now, Colorado requires a minimum of two hours of curriculum on how to interact with people who have disabilities. Many say this is inadequate. National standards don't exist, so training requirements vary wildly department to department.

BURCH: Each one of them has their own policies, their own procedures. So on the whole, we're doing terrible.

PATERSON: There's little data on this topic, but disabled people do interact with the criminal justice system frequently. In 2016, nearly 40% of state and federal prison inmates reported having a disability. Ali Thompson gets these challenges. She's the disability advocate, but used to be a deputy sheriff in northern Colorado.

ALI THOMPSON: It's scary because you don't know why they're not following your commands. So your adrenaline starts pumping. You think they're not listening to my commands because they have a warrant or because they have a gun on them or - you come up with all of these scenarios to explain it.

PATERSON: Early on in her career, when Thompson was a patrol officer, she says she herself wouldn't have thought that conditions like autism or dementia could be factoring in.

THOMPSON: We need to start bringing those possibilities into those what-if scenarios.

PATERSON: After the Garner incident, the Colorado chapter of the Alzheimer's Association contacted Loveland PD to offer up their Approaching Alzheimer's training. It's now required for officers, advising them to speak calmly, turn off sirens and avoid touching. Sergeant Brandon Johnson, who oversees training, says it's never really enough.

BRANDON JOHNSON: You know, we could always use more training. I mean, I - it's balancing our available workforce, our time and our service to the community and our staffing levels.

PATERSON: In Loveland, five staff members are also being trained to become de-escalation instructors. And statewide, there's a push to do more. Lawmakers have advanced a bill this session to improve first responder training standards for disabled people.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Paterson.

(SOUNDBITE OF FAODAIL'S "GAEL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: colorado police  disabilites