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Austin Hopp released on parole.Former Loveland Police Officer Austin Hopp, who pleaded guilty to assault in the arrest and injury of 73-year-old Karen Garner, was released from prison in January, according to an offender parole letter.He was sentenced to five years in prison in May 2022 and released in January 2026.At the time of his sentencing, 8th Judicial District Court Judge Michelle Brinegar said that he would be required to serve three years of mandatory parole upon his release.“I made a terrible mistake that day, a horrible one,” Hopp said the day of his sentencing in 2022.Hopp arrested Garner, who suffered from dementia, in June 2020 after she was accused of shoplifting less than $14 in merchandise from Walmart.In the arrest, Garner was pulled to the ground and her arm was broken and dislocated.The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in March 2022, and the original charges he faced of felony second-degree assault of an at-risk victim, felony attempting to influence a public servant and misdemeanor misconduct were dismissed.In an offender parole letter emailed to Garner’s son, John Steward, from the Colorado Department of Corrections Victim Services Unit, it states Hopp was released Jan.The letter also states conditions of Hopp’s parole, including that he must seek employment, obey all laws, report to his parole officer, and more.The email was shared with the Loveland Reporter-Herald Thursday afternoon.Shannon Steward, Garner’s daughter-in-law said that she feels as though Hopp moving on with his life, in a way, also allows the Garner family to move past what happened.“I even told him in his sentencing, I want him to be a good father.I want him to be able to better himself and take care of his daughters,” Steward said in an interview Thursday morning.“And move on with his life, because he deserves that.” According to the Colorado Department of Corrections offender search, Hopp is on parole outside of Colorado, and although his current location is publicly unknown, Steward said that Hopp previously said during a parole hearing that he wanted to move to Florida for work and family upon his release.In his sentencing in May 2022, Hopp was prohibited from serving as a law enforcement officer ever again.“I didn’t do it because I was angry or to be cruel or presume some sort of power or control.I really honestly misjudged the situation, I did not understand what was happening,” Hopp said the day of his sentencing.“I did not read it appropriately and I responded so wrongly and so poorly.” In a surveillance video, Hopp can be seen laughing when watching body-worn camera footage of Garner’s arrest.“Ready for the pop?Hear the pop?” he is heard saying in the video about Garner’s shoulder, alongside former officer Daria Jalali.During Hopp’s sentencing hearing in 2022, John Steward said the video showed that Hopp enjoyed watching the footage of how he had arrested Garner.“He took pride in humiliating my mom, you can hear it in his voice,” he said during the sentencing hearing.“That shows the true monster that he is.” Jalali was sentenced to 45 days in jail followed by three years of probation for failure to intervene in the use of excessive force.She was the first person in the county to be convicted for failure to intervene.Garner died in 2023 at the age of 76 of complications from dementia.The Garner family filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Loveland and the police department, and the city ended up settling the case with the Garner family for $3 million.Garner’s arrest, followed by the video footage released by Sarah Schielke of the Life and Liberty Law Office in early 2021 showing Hopp, Jalali and former community service officer Tyler Blackett laughing while talking about the arrest, put the former officer and Loveland into the national media spotlight.The incident also led to an internal affairs investigation at the LPD and changes to the county’s Critical Incident Response Team protocol.Steward said that she is glad Garner’s case made various departments aware of the need for training on dealing with people with impairments, like dementia.“We’re hopeful that this has allowed other officers to get better trained or have mediation when somebody is in that type of situation (Garner was in) so that it doesn’t happen again,” Steward said.“That’s what we want most of all.”