Colorado police officer sentenced to 5 years in prison for barbaric arrest of elderly woman with dementia

by

A former Colorado police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for the violent arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia, during which he broke her arm and pulled it out of her vagina.

Karen Garner had gone to a supermarket in Lowland, Colorado (western USA) in June 2020, where she bought a few items worth $ 14. But, according to her lawyer, she forgot to pay, due to her dementia, something that prompted store employees to call the police, even though they had already taken back the goods.

It was on the sidewalk that Officer Austin Hope arrested the seventy-year-old, who was walking home. When he refused to obey his orders, as he did not seem to understand him, he threw her down and turned her hands behind her back to handcuff her.

“I’m coming home,” the woman repeated, visibly disoriented.

The video of the barbaric arrest, recorded by the camera worn by the police officer, caused a wave of indignation, as well as video from the closed-circuit surveillance at the police station a little later, in which Austin Hope and his colleagues are depicted laughing as they narrate the incident.

“Ready for the ‘crack’?” says the policeman laughing and replies “I think it was her shoulder” when others ask him what it was.

Austin Hope has since resigned from Lowland police, as have two other colleagues.

During his trial, the former police officer pleaded guilty to assaulting the 73-year-old and apologized to the Garner family the day before yesterday, assuring that he was “truly ashamed” of his actions, according to a report in the Denver Post newspaper.

For Larimer County Judge Michel Brinegar, “this case is not due to a mistake.” scary degree of criminal thinking “.

Initially, an investigation by the Police Department of Home Affairs found nothing reprehensible in Austin Hopp’s conduct.

Last year, however, the municipality of Loveland struck a friendly agreement that would provide $ 3 million in compensation to Ms. Garner’s family, who filed a lawsuit.

Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news

You May Also Like

Recommended for you