Karen Garner.Photo: Loveland Police Department
A former Colorado police officer was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for violently detaining an elderly woman living with dementia during an arrest.
Austin Hopp, formerly of the Loveland Police Department, pleaded guilty to a single charge of second-degree assault in March.
She sustained injuries, including a fractured arm and dislocated shoulder,The Washington Postreported.
Surveillance footage from inside the Loveland police station showed Hopp and other officers joking about the arrest and mocking Garner, thePostreports.
While reviewing the footage, Hopp asked fellow officers if they “hear the pop,” of Garner’s shoulder when he dropped her to the ground. “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old woman on the ground,” he said, according to theColoradoan.
“It is shocking, it is unbelievable and frankly it’s confusing because it never should have happened,” Assistant District Attorney Matt Maillaro said during sentencing, theColoradoanreported. “It was a needless contact, a needless use of police force.”
Austin Hopp.AP/Shutterstock
“The LPD is grateful for the DA’s diligence and pursuit of due process during this very important case,” Interim Chief Eric Stewart said in a statement after the sentencing. “While this will not change the terrible treatment Ms. Garner experienced, we hope that this sentence can bring some measure of justice to her & her family.”
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In a statement to the court, Hopp said he “made a terrible mistake that day, a horrible one,” theColoradoanreported. “I didn’t do it because I was angry or to be cruel or for power or control, I really, honestly misjudged the situation. I did not understand what was happening. I responded so wrongly and so poorly.”
At the sentencing, Judge Michelle Brinegar said Hopp’s actions were “deliberate, deceitful and calculated,” theColoradoanreported.
“This case is not about a mistake,” Brinegar said.
source: people.com
