Former Minneapolis police officer Tyler Timberlake is striking back at the Minneapolis Police Department and Chief Brian O'Hara, filing a lawsuit for defamation and wrongful termination after his employment with the MPD was cut short. Timberlake, who was involved in a 2020 excessive force case in Virginia, asserts that he was wrongfully ousted after assurances that his past behavior would not impact his work in Minneapolis.
Days following the infamous murder of George Floyd by former officer Derek Chauvin, Timberlake, then an officer in Fairfax County, Virginia, was caught on body camera using a Taser on an unarmed Black man and pressing his knee on the man's back. Despite being acquitted by a Fairfax County jury on assault charges and receiving minimal internal disciplinary action, Timberlake has faced severe backlash after being hired and subsequently dismissed by the MPD. The dismissed officer, who alleges his termination was baseless, is demanding over $250,000 in damages, attorney’s fees, reinstatement, and back pay, according to a report by Minnesota Reformer.
Despite the not guilty verdict, O'Hara expressed concern with Timberlake's hiring, stating the body camera footage from Timberlake's prior incident "should have been flagged" and declaring a full investigation into MPD's hiring practices, as reported by KARE 11. Timberlake's last day at MPD was at the beginning of July, shortly after these concerns were publicly voiced.
The lawsuit filed by Timberlake argues that the defendants induced him to resign from his civil-service-protected job in Virginia, lured him with the promise of a comparable role with the MPD, and then shattered those assurances. The former officer claims he disclosed the Virginia incident during the hiring process and contends that the MPD's background check, which was known to O'Hara, was comprehensive, including "every phase of the overall onboarding process," as per Minnesota Reformer.
Timberlake is left claiming that with his employment unjustly terminated and his reputation in ruins. He cannot find work even at departments previously interested in his services. The City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the complaint, providing no further comment at this time.
