FAIRFAX, Va. — Update
A grand jury has indicted Fairfax County Police Department officer Tyler Timberlake on three misdemeanor counts of assault and battery on Monday after using a taser to hit a black man in June. This comes after Fairfax County prosecutors dropped assault charges a week before, according to the Black Lawyers For Justice group that held a news conference in front of the department's station.
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Fairfax County Police Department officer Tyler Timberlake faced three charges of assault and battery relating to an on-duty incident Friday.
Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr. of FCPD called an impromptu press conference late Saturday night after DC saw its biggest protest of the week calling for justice for George Floyd and announced charges have been filed as part of the ongoing investigation into Timberlake's use of a Taser.
Bodycam video of the incident was shown at the press conference Saturday night. The video shows FCPD speaking with a man that they are trying to get into an ambulance, and continue asking him to get in if he wants to go to "detox." Next, Timberlake fires his Taser, striking the man, and both the officer wearing the bodycam and Timberlake is seen getting on top of him.
Once Timberlake is on top of the man, he presses the Taser into the back of his neck and fires again.
After a struggle, the man is handcuffed and telling officers he can't breathe.
The full raw video had not yet been released as of this writing, but Roessler said they planned to do so as soon as they could.
"Together as a community, through our transparency, we will heal as a community ... this is behavior we shall not tolerate," said Fairfax County Chief of Police Edwin Rossler.
Timberlake is an eight year veteran of the Fairfax County Police Department.
Part of the investigation by the Fairfax County Police Department reportedly included using an independent investigator.
Body camera use is something that protesters have spoken about numerous times during protests across the nation following the death of George Floyd.
Floyd died when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on his neck for nine minutes. Three other officers in the city have been charged in connection with Floyd's death.
Chauvin faces a second-degree murder charge, while the other three officers, Tou Thao, Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane, face charges for aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.
All four officers were fired by Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo the day after the video of the fatal encounter surfaced on social media.
