From [HERE] and [HERE] A white Fairfax County Police officer was charged after a body camera video released showed him tasing an unarmed Black man and has been found not guilty on all counts Friday.

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.

The police officer is seen on body-camera footage June 5 firing a Taser at a disoriented man without apparent provocation, before pinning him to the ground with a knee to his neck, as a Minneapolis officer did in the encounter with Floyd.

La Monta Gladney, 36, survived and officer Tyler Timberlake was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery less than 36 hours after the incident on a Mount Vernon street. The bogus assault charges against the Black man were dropped.

WTOP Radio reports that both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer for Officer Tyler Timberlake agreed at a preliminary hearing that Timberlake thought he shot a person named Anthony, who had an extensive criminal record. But the victim was somebody else entirely.

The video shows the white cop walking at a brisk pace straight toward the black man and without any hesitation or communication with him he shoots him the back upper shoulder. Clearly the cop took no time to corroborate any description, details or identity to support his lies.

In 2018, African Americans made up roughly 10 percent of Fairfax’s population but constituted 44 percent of the cases in which officers deployed force, according to department statistics. In contrast, whites made up 61 percent of the county’s population but were involved in only 33 percent of such cases. [MORE]

The number of use-of-force cases against African Americans has jumped 25 percent since 2016, according to the figures. 

Dozens of Fairfax County police officers crowded into the courtroom throughout the trial to support Timberlake. When he stepped out in the hallway after the not guilty verdicts, the officers applauded and cheered.

"Thanks you all for your support," Timberlake told them. "It means the world to my family. Stay safe out there."

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano released a statement after the verdict calling it a "disappointment," adding he was not surprised.

"It is notoriously hard to prosecute a case like this, but my standard of prosecuting a case isn’t whether it’s easy or hard. My standard is doing what I think is right to hold people, including law enforcement, accountable for their actions," the statement says.

Descano said more work needs to be done. 

"True justice will be achieved when my Black and brown neighbors don’t have to fear for their well-being when they leave their homes."

Fairfax County Fraternal Order of Police President Brad Carruthers released a statement saying, "We vociferously defended Timberlake from the beginning, and this case highlights the importance to conduct a thorough and balanced investigation before levying charges..... Partisan politics has no place in the prosecutor's office."

Timberlake still faces potential police department discipline. But his lawyer thinks that that is unlikely now. He’s been on restricted duty since the incident on June 5, 2020. Soon he’ll be back out the streets trying to kill other NGHRS!