Ex-Minneapolis police officer Tyler Timberlake returns to court in defamation, wrongful termination case
MINNEAPOLIS — The lawsuit filed against the city of Minneapolis and its police chief by a former officer with a controversial past is back before a judge on Thursday morning.
The suit was filed last December by Tyler Timberlake, who was fired just six months after joining the Minneapolis Police Department in January 2023.
Timberlake, who is White, is suing for defamation and wrongful termination after a video from June 2020 surfaced of him — during his time as an officer in Fairfax County, Virginia — assaulting La Monta Gladney, an unarmed Black man who appeared to be in the midst of a mental health crisis.
Body camera video showed Timberlake deploying a stun gun on Gladney, hitting him with it, and then using it again. He then kneeled on Gladney's neck and back.
The violent encounter happened just days after George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis by former officer Derek Chauvin.
Timberlake was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery but was acquitted in 2022.
When news of Timberlake's past surfaced in April 2023, Police Chief Brian O'Hara said he knew nothing about it before hiring Timberlake. That claim was disputed by the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis.
"I would not have signed off on that hire if I had witnessed the behavior in that video," O'Hara told WCCO in July 2023.
O'Hara has also been trying to get the case dismissed.
The motion hearing for the case is set for 8:45 a.m.
This is a developing story. Stay with WCCO.com for more.
