The power-tripping Florida cop who arrested a woman on false charges after she called police for help when a man threatened her with a shotgun was sentenced to 364 days in jail Thursday.
Alejandro Giraldo was a Miami-Dade police officer when he assaulted and arrested Dyma Loving after telling her did not like her attitude in March 2019.
Loving ended up jailed on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest while the man who threatened to kill her was not arrested.
It was only because the incident was captured on video that charges against her were dropped and Giraldo was terminated, ending a 14-year career with the Miami-Dade Police Department.
The video shows Giraldo accusing her of having an “attitude” after she insisted they arrest Frank Tumm, the neighbor who had pointed a shotgun at her and a friend during a verbal dispute that had gone on for days.
Public outrage over the video also led to the arrest of Tumm on two counts of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office never formally filed the charges, so his case quietly disappeared months later.
On Thursday, Giraldo told the judge he was simply having a bad day and “it is not who I truly am,” according to Local 10.
But the video show several other Miami-Dade cops going along with the false arrest, indicating it was business as usual.
Giraldo, in fact, was training one of the officers, revealing a national trend of cops convicted of crimes while training rookies, including Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and Brooklyn Center (Minnesota) police officer Kim Potter.
The sentence imposed by Judge Ellen Sue Venzer came as a surprise considering prosecutors were only seeking 60 days in jail. Giraldo will also serve 18 months probation following his release from jail.
Giraldo who is a pastor at his church tried to paint himself as a holy man during his sentencing.
“I have dedicated my life to be a spiritual person. March 5th, I had a bad day. I ask that you do not define me based on the 6-minute video. I ask that you take mercy on me.”
But Judge Venzer was not buying it.
“You lied on an arrest affidavit,” she said, according to the Miami Herald. “It wasn’t like you gained anything from it. Ms. Loving, she paid for your lies. She spent days in jail waiting for her family to come bail her out.”
A lawsuit filed by Loving against the Miami-Dade Police Department remains pending. Watch the video of the arrest below.
Poor woman. A life of bad memories for being the lamb of God taking the Devil down. Now the Devil is in jail because of a saint.