LOS ANGELES – A United States police officer who violently arrested a 73-year-old dementia sufferer over allegedly shoplifting, breaking her arm and dislocating her shoulder, has been sentenced to five years in prison.
The incident sparked widespread outrage after bodycam video of the arrest – and footage of officers later laughing as they re-watched it at a Colorado police station -- emerged.
Austin Hopp pleaded guilty to the felony charge of second-degree assault, and told a sentencing hearing in court on Thursday he was “truly ashamed of my actions”, the Denver Post reported.
Hopp and two other officers have resigned over the incident, while the city of Loveland agreed a US$3 million (RM13 million) settlement with victim Karen Garner’s family after they sued last year.
Garner was spotted by staff trying to exit a Walmart store with around US$14 worth of merchandise. They confiscated the items but still called the police.
Hopp intercepted Garner as she walked home, wrestling her to the ground within seconds and wrenching her arms behind her back.
In the video released by Garner’s lawyer of Hopp re-watching the bodycam footage back at the police station, he can be heard laughing and asking: “Ready for the pop?... I think it was her shoulder.”
“This case is not about a mistake,” Larimer County district court judge Michelle Brinegar said at the sentencing hearing.
“This is about a young officer who used his position of power and authority to show off his toughness, disregarded any sense of humanity and showed an alarming deal of criminal thinking.”
Internal police reviews of the incident initially found no wrongdoing by Hopp.
But the Loveland Police Department issued a statement Thursday thanking prosecutors for their “diligence and pursuit of due process during this very important case”.
“While this will not change the terrible treatment Ms Garner experienced, we hope that this sentence can bring some measure of justice to her and her family,” it said. – AFP, May 7, 2022
