FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Day four of the trial of a white Fairfax County police officer in the alleged assault on an unarmed and incoherent Black man, and the officer's lawyer is getting a chance to make his case.
Even with the whole incident caught on bodycam video, what happened seems to be open to interpretation.
Timberlake is facing three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery for tasing LaMonta Gladney, smacking him in the face and tasing him a second time on June 5, 2020, at the height of the social justice protests.
Timberlake's lawyers insist that not only is there no crime -- they argue when the officer tased La Monta Gladney, it may have actually saved his life.
A medical expert for the accused officer testified that Gladney was suffering from something called "excited delirium." William Bozeman, MD said Gladney was so high on PCP, that by shooting him with a stun gun seconds after arriving on the scene, Timberlake avoided a prolonged fight that might have sent Gladney into sudden cardiac arrest.
"I believe his actions contributed to his good outcome and may have possibly saved his life," Bozeman, an emergency room doctor at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist hospital, told jurors. Gladney survived the incident but says he's still traumatized.
On cross-examination, Bozeman admitted to prosecutors that "excited delirium" is not even in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of mental disorders.
A retired Fairfax County police officer and use of force expert went frame by frame through the video. Eric Campbell insisted that at every step, Timberlake was trying to de-escalate the situation.
"Have you seen anything that violates the Fairfax County use of force general orders?" Timberlake's lawyer, Brandon Shapiro asked. "No, not at all," Campbell responded."
On cross, the prosecutor asked Campbell if the subject "should be given a reasonable opportunity to comply?"
"The general order says that," admitted the defense expert.
Closing arguments are slated for Friday afternoon.