FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Minnesota police chief has launched an investigation after learning his department hired a former Fairfax County police officer who was once charged with assaulting an unarmed Black man in 2020.
Officer Tyler Timberlake was charged with 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.
He was found not guilty on all counts in 2022.
Bodycam video of the incident showed officers 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 told officers he couldn't breathe.
Recently, Timberlake was hired by the Minneapolis Police Department after leaving Fairfax County on his own accord.
"I am extremely concerned about what I have just learned pertaining to the hiring of this individual who is currently in agency training and yet to be deployed into service," said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara.
The chief told WUSA9 in a statement that he is launching an investigation into the hiring process and Timberlake will not be deployed to serve until the investigation is complete.
"We will get to the bottom of this and take whatever measures are necessary to ensure we are always hiring officers who meet our standards and that we are ultimately placing only the most qualified and competent police into the service and protection in the City of Minneapolis.”
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