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Issue 10 – Easter 2022

The Jungle

Nine Urns

On the elderly.

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On June 26, 2020, Austin Hopp, a former Loveland, Colorado, police officer, rolled up in his squad car to a suspected criminal who was walking along the side of the road. The suspect didn’t initially respond to Hopp’s commands to stop and appeared to be ignoring him. “I don’t think you want to play it this way,” Hopp warned as the suspect turned to walk away from him. “Do you need to be arrested right now?”

 As a sworn law enforcement officer, Hopp had the authority to use physical force to gain compliance from a suspect disobeying his lawful commands, and so he did. He grabbed her, swept her to the ground, and twisted her arm behind her. “I was like, ‘Alright, let’s wrestle girl,’” he would later tell two of his fellow officers back at the Loveland police station, recounting his war story for the day. “Let’s wreck it!”


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