Former Minneapolis police officer Tyler Timberlake returns to court on defamation and wrongful termination charges

MINNEAPOLIS – The lawsuit was filed against the city of Minneapolis and its police chief a former officer with a controversial past will face a judge again on Thursday morning.

The lawsuit was filed last December by Tyler Timberlake was fired just six months after joining the Minneapolis Police Department in January 2023.

Timberlake, a white man, is suing for defamation and wrongful termination after a June 2020 video surfaced in which he – while serving as an officer in Fairfax County, Virginia – attacked La Monta Gladney, an unarmed black man who appeared to be in the Police found him in the midst of a mental health crisis.

Body camera video showed Timberlake pointing a stun gun at Gladney, hitting him and then using it again. He then knelt on Gladney's neck and back.

The violent confrontation occurred just days before George Floyd was killed by a former officer in Minneapolis Derek Chauvin.

Timberlake was charged with three counts of 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. This claim was disputed by the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis.

“I would not have signed this take if I had seen the behavior in this video,” O'Hara told WCCO in July 2023.

O'Hara has also sought to dismiss the lawsuit.

The hearing on the motion is scheduled for 8:45 a.m

This is a developing story. For more information, visit WCCO.com.