The city of Denver will pay $325,000 to settle a lawsuit involving a deputy who has been accused in two separate incidents of assaulting people using wheelchairs.
The settlement, approved by the Denver City Council on Monday, comes in response to a lawsuit alleging Denver Sheriff Deputy Jason Gentempo assaulted an inmate who was handcuffed while using a wheelchair in 2019.
Gentempo did not face discipline at the time. But in December 2025, he was arrested for a second alleged assault, which is the subject of an ongoing criminal case.
The 2019 assault
In 2019, Serafin Finn was being transported from Denver Health to the jail when he allegedly spat at Gentempo.
“In response, Deputy Gentempo reared back with the full force of his body and punched Mr. Finn in the face,” according to the complaint.
Gentempo allegedly punched Finn in the face several more times, flipped his wheelchair and smashed Finn’s head into the ground.
“Deputy Gentempo then laid on top of Mr. Finn and applied painful pressure points to his head and neck,” the complaint stated. “All of this force occurred while Mr. Finn’s legs and arms were completely restrained, and he was unable to protect himself against Deputy Gentempo’s ongoing assault.”
The event was captured by surveillance cameras, according to the complaint. But while an internal affairs investigation recommended discipline for the deputy, the city’s Department of Public Safety declined to do so.
“In April 2020, following a thorough investigation of the matter, the Internal Affairs Bureau recommended that Deputy Gentempo receive discipline for three separate policy violations: employing excessive force; lying in his written report of the incident; and lying to investigators,” the complaint stated. “Despite the findings of the Internal Affairs Bureau, the Denver Sheriff’s Department rejected the recommendation and exonerated Deputy Gentempo.”
The Department of Public Safety’s own investigation determined Gentempo did not use excessive force or falsify documents.
In the years since, Gentempo was promoted to sergeant. Finn died from separate causes.
Gentempo faces a criminal case for a 2025 assault.
Last year, Gentempo was arrested in December for third-degree assault on an at-risk adult. CBS reported the victim is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair. After a night in jail, Gentempo was released on a personal reconnaissance bond. His wife, also a deputy, was arrested too.
In December, Sheriff Elias Diggins put Gentempo on investigatory leave while the criminal case is in court. The case is ongoing.
The Denver City Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Denver Sheriff Department declined to comment.
It was the city’s first law-enforcement settlement of 2026, according to Councilmember Shontel Lewis.
