Colorado Cop Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Violent Assault on Elderly Woman with Dementia.

[Robert59]

A Colorado cop who abused an elderly woman with dementia in an apparent attempt to impress his girlfriend was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday.

Austin Hopp, who resigned from the Loveland Police Department in 2021 after the woman’s family filed a lawsuit, was convicted of second-degree erve three years of parole after his release, according to the Denver Post. assault in March.

https://pinacnews.com/index.php/202...olent-assault-on-elderly-woman-with-dementia/

 

[rwb]

We are facing challenging times for sure. We need our police, but we need a reasonable, trustworthy group of officers. An older lady walking along a highway is certainly not a threat to our nation - not like rioters in certain cities - and a reasonable person might consider the possibility that she was not a threat and may have some mental issues. With that in mind, the officer should have handled the situation in a much more cautious and careful manner. He never attempted to talk to the women and his first thought should have been that she was confused or disoriented. Police officers are not highly paid and, therefore, if seems to be difficult to attract the best and the brightest as officers. This officer is a bully - plain and simple!!

 

[rwb]

I did?

 

[StarSong]

I did?

An older lady walking along a highway is certainly not a threat to our nation - not like rioters in certain cities -

You injected politics. Please don't.

Police officers are not highly paid and, therefore, if seems to be difficult to attract the best and the brightest as officers.

Los Angeles Police Department officers are very well paid. Not sure about other cities.
https://www.joinlapd.com/salary

In any event, I agree that this was an abysmal act and am glad that officer had the book thrown at him. Reading the full story, it looks like others in Loveland's PD should have the book thrown at them, too.

 

[Lawrence]

I live something like ten miles from where that happened in Loveland Colorado, I live in Windsor. We have talked about it in group therapy in the past and have agreed the police department there has been overhanded in their way they do business there. We are glad to see the police department being held accountable for the misdeeds that they have done.

 

[Nathan]

Police officers are not highly paid and, therefore, if seems to be difficult to attract the best and the brightest as officers. This officer is a bully - plain and simple!!

I agree that this officer lacked basic human compassion, and was likely a bully. But Loveland PD looks to have a decent pay scale:

For non-trainee police officers, the first and final steps in the pay scale would be changed from $64,400 and $86,800 annually to $70,400 and $93,000, respectively. reporterherald.com

With all the recent examples of unwarranted use of force, I can't help but believe that hiring & screening of police candidates is lacking in some way, plus training may be deficient....?

When I worked for a large police agency in SoCal. less than1% of applicants were chosen, the training was thorough, to insure safe, legal public service.

 

[win231]

I doubt this moron will serve anywhere near 5 years. The sentence is to pacify an outraged public & support the notion that "We do not tolerate police misconduct."
He'll likely be released early - more like a few weeks - after his attorney does his job:
"My client is devoted to public service, is willing to lay his life on the line to protect his community, & he had no way of diagnosing mental illness; we can't expect police officers to be psychiatrists."

 

[SeniorBen]

It's taxpayers who wind up footing the bill for these bad cops when lawsuits result in multi-million dollar payouts to victims of police brutality. And because of the police unions, it's really difficult to fire them.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

It seems to me that when you hear news like this, it is because of poor, if any, supervision, and a lack of adequate training. If there was proper supervision, this guy should have been kicked out way before this happened. And 3 month on-the-job training is no where near the education needed to perform the duties of a police officer. Today, any one-horse town can have a "police academy", even if they are saving up to buy a badge.
Police should be professionals, they should be educated, supervised, and paid, as such.

 

[Mike]

Good he belongs in Jail, who, treats elderly women in this
fashion, even if she was not ill with dementia, if anybody
treated his mother similarly, he would probably go ballistic,
his superiors should also be fired for watching the video and
doing nothing!

Mike.