fairfax County cops gun down another one
Wesley G. Shifflett of the Fairfax County Police has been decertified and fired for gunning down a citizen he and another cop named James F. Sadler had been caught harassing and cornering Timothy McCree Johnson, a 37-year-old Black man whom they decided was guilty of walking while black in Fairfax County. The department justified the murder by cop by claiming that Timothy Johnson had stolen a pair of sunglasses, a misdemeanor offense, ran from the two cops. So, basically, he was killed for running away with stolen sunglasses, and considering the fatal bullet wound to the chest they gave, running away from those two probably was the best option he had. He was gunned, by both cops, down in a wooded aware out of public view.
opps!
Posted the wrong picture in the last posting.
That isn't professional Chinese American Wilson Lee, it was Tou Thao, the cop who stood by and watched as another cop murdered a suspect by cutting off his air.
How dare you sign your own name?
Maj. Wilson Lee
Those zany and unpredictable corrupt
cops at the Fairfax County Police are at it again. They appointed, in my
opinion, a token Chinese American to a position of influence and then got upset
when the token Chinese American acted like a Chinese American…welcome to a day
in the life of the corrupt Fairfax County Police
A Virginia police chief sent an
email faulting the director of the Fairfax County's police academy for signing
graduation certificates in a language other than English and requested the
documents be signed again.
Maj. Wilson Lee, who is Chinese
American, and probably very lonely within that baston of angry white people, has
signed the ceremonial documents in Chinese with his legal given name, Lee
Wai-Shun, since taking over the Fairfax County Police Criminal Justice Academy
over a year ago.
The Fairfax County police decided not to murder a man
The Fairfax County police decided not to murder a man who barricaded himself inside his home for more than seven hours.
Remember the old days when they
simply murdered a citizen that was barricaded in their house?
On August 29, 2013, a cop named Adam
Torres murdered a citizen named John Geer who was barricaded in his house for
42 minutes. The taxpayers in the county paid out $3,000,000 for that one.
Torres, a man with anger issues,
was charged with second-degree murder, pleaded guilty to involuntary
manslaughter and was sentenced to one-year imprisonment, including time served.
He was released just 5 days after he was convicted.
One year for killing a guy.
33 political correct kids
Fairfax police recruit totals 33
Nearly half (47.4
percent) are fluent in multiple languages. And less than 39 percent live in
Fairfax County.
He was a punk cop here so we just slid him over to a different police force
Former MPD officer sues police chief, city for defamation, wrongful termination
Tyler Timberlake is seeking over $250,000 in damages
Fairfax County police officer Tyler Timberlake was arrested after using a stun gun on an unarmed, disoriented Black man multiple times, hitting him in the head with the Taser and kneeling on his back and neck.
A former Virginia police officer who was hired by the Minneapolis Police Department in January despite being involved in a highly publicized excessive force case is now suing Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and the city for terminating him.
Tyler Timberlake alleges in the lawsuit that the Minneapolis police chief has repeatedly lied about what he knew about Timberlake’s past before signing off on his hiring.
Just days after Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by pressing his knee into his neck on a south Minneapolis street, Timberlake, then a Fairfax County police officer, made headlines when he repeatedly used a stun gun on a disoriented, unarmed Black man wandering a residential street. Body camera video shows Timberlake jamming his knee into the man’s back and shoulder while the man said he couldn’t breathe.
Timberlake was later acquitted by a jury of assault and battery, was not formally disciplined and was reinstated to his job.
After the Reformer first reported on Timberlake’s hiring in April, O’Hara released a statement saying he was “extremely concerned” about the hire and ordered a thorough investigation into MPD’s background checks and hiring processes.
Timberlake alleges the chief and city caused the loss of his reputation and career after they “induced” him to resign his job as a Virginia police officer and take a job at MPD, assuring him that the use-of-force case wouldn’t affect his employment.
But he says shortly after his hiring came to light in the press, “those assurances turned to smoke.” He was put on limited duty status and later fired while still on probation, when he had no civil service or union protections.
Timberlake is suing for defamation and wrongful termination, seeking over $250,000 in damages, plus attorney’s fees, reinstatement, back pay and compensatory damages. The suit says he has no job and no prospects, with “his reputation in tatters.”
MPD and O’Hara deferred comment to the City Attorney’s Office, which released a statement saying it is reviewing the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that “in O’Hara’s panicked efforts to evade responsibility for Timberlake’s hiring, he told a series of lies to the public, including that Timberlake had failed to disclose, or had misrepresented, the incident in Virginia during the hiring process, that O’Hara did not know about the incident in Virginia, (and) that something was wrong with the MPD hiring process because it had failed to identify the incident in Virginia.”
The suit says MPD Officer Craig Johnson fully investigated the Virginia incident, and wrote a summary of his findings in his background report, which was given to hiring personnel.
Timberlake said he disclosed the incident on his MPD application and during “every phase of the overall onboarding process,” offering to provide all video and audio footage of it.
Before being offered a job, he had a final interview on Nov. 8, 2022, in Minneapolis, where he met with O’Hara, Deputy Chief Troy Schoenberger, Chief of Staff Christopher Gaiters, and Human Resources Representative Heather Rende. They discussed the Virginia incident “in great deal,” according to the suit.
Timberlake said he asked O’Hara whether he had any concerns about how he would be treated because of the Virginia case, and O’Hara indicated “he did not care about the prior critical incident, and that if Timberlake is doing the right thing and meeting community expectations, he would not have any problems from the chief.”
Timberlake says he was then offered the job less than 15 minutes after the interview ended, while he was walking to his car. He resigned his job and moved to Minnesota, where he began the job in January.
O’Hara has previously said it was his second day on the job when he sat in on Timberlake’s interview as an “observer,” not a “participant.”
The Reformer first inquired about the hiring on April 12, after which Timberlake alleges O’Hara “began to change his story after media scrutiny,” and wrote in an April 19 internal email that he “was completely and totally unaware of his history.”
Timberlake wrote a May 15 letter to Mayor Jacob Frey, O’Hara and Human Resources Chief Nikki Odom accusing O’Hara of defaming him, and asked for an investigation into the matter.
On July 5, he was summoned to a meeting with Schoenberger and two lieutenants, and was told he was being terminated but not given a reason. Timberlake says he asked if his termination was related to political pressure, and Schoenberger said, “I’m not going to answer that.”
Months later, the city sent Timberlake a memo by O’Hara outlining his reason for the termination, saying Timberlake “engaged in conduct that would not meet our standards when he stepped into another officer’s call, failed to de-escalate, and used unreasonable force during a critical incident.”
O’Hara’s memo said he didn’t know about the conduct prior to viewing a video of it that wasn’t revealed during the hiring process. The chief wrote that he also took into account “concerns raised by community members following the media’s publication of the video.”
Timberlake alleges O’Hara harmed his reputation and defamed him multiple times by implying he concealed the Virginia incident during his background investigation. And he claims O’Hara disclosed information to the public that is supposed to remain private under state law.
He’s seeking compensation for loss of employment, mental distress, humiliation, embarrassment and an inability to find a job afterward “even at police departments that previously expressed interest in working with him.”
Timberlake also claims the city violated the Minnesota Whistleblower Act and he’s entitled to reinstatement, back pay, compensatory damages and the expungement of adverse employment records.
Timberlake gives a detailed description of how and why he responded to the Virginia man the way he did, noting that he was called to a “high-crime area” frequented by a violent felon and PCP user with warrants out for his arrest. Timberlake admits he mistook another man for the felon, and that the man was later found to be under the influence of PCP and cocaine.
After being acquitted by a jury of three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery, Timberlake was reinstated as a police officer in Fairfax County. Their internal affairs unit found he violated their de-escalation policy, and issued a written reprimand. Timberlake appealed the finding, and it was reduced to an oral reprimand, which is not considered formal disciplinary action.
In the lawsuit, Timberlake also says he held the man down by his back and shoulder, not his neck, and disagreed with Chauvin’s “knee-on-neck restraint tactic” on Floyd.
Deena Winter has covered local and state government in four states over the past three decades, with stints at the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota, as a correspondent for the Denver Post, city hall reporter in Lincoln, Nebraska, and regional editor for Southwest News in the western Minneapolis suburbs.
Pay Attenion Fairfax County
WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential policing think tank is pushing law enforcement agencies to change how they handle body camera footage after police shootings, saying officers should not be able to review video before making their first statements to investigators.
Allowing officers to view body-camera footage before speaking to investigators can allow their stories to change to fit the video, either through lying or subconscious distortion of how they recall the event
and yet they have a budget that costs the taxpayers millions....
Violent crime, homicide, aggravated assaults, rape and robbery, increased in 2023 this year in Fairfax County, by almost ten percent. That increase is larger than similarly sized counties in our region like Prince George’s County and Montgomery County.
So what? Nothing will happen to them.
FCPS, FCPD accused of tipping off teen murder suspect about DC Police investigation
by Tom
Roussey
Fri, December 8th 2023, 10:53 PM EST
...
WASHINGTON
(7News) — In court filings, a D.C. detective accused Fairfax County’s
police and public schools of essentially tipping off a teen murder suspect that
police were investigating him. But police and the school system are firing
back, saying it would not have been safe to allow a murder suspect to keep
coming to school.
24-year-old Diamonte
Lewis was shot and killed outside Nellie’s Sports Bar at 900 U Street NW a
little after 3:30 a.m. October 21.
D.C.’s Metropolitan
Police Department later released video of three suspects, and in a court filing
this week police identified one of them as 16-year-old Ashton Inabinet of the
Mt. Vernon area of Fairfax County.
They said surveillance
images show him firing a gun, and he continued to fire even as Lewis was
falling, then took a bag from him.
After putting out the
surveillance video on October 31, D.C. Police said on November 14, they
received information that led them to look into a West Potomac High student in
Fairfax County. On November 28, a school resource officer there identified the
student as Ashton Inabinet.
A D.C. detective writes
in court papers that on that same day, the high school told county police to go
to Inabinet’s residence to ban him from school.
Seven days later on
December 5, police executed a search warrant at the home. They said a 9mm
pistol was used in the homicide, and although at the home they found five 9mm
pistols and some 9mm cartridges, they could not find a 9mm cartridge of the
same brand as cartridges recovered from the homicide scene. They also said they
found an empty gun box hidden under a dog cage. A D.C. detective wrote in court
papers she was concerned Inabinet had had time to remove evidence:
“It should be noted that
the Defendant was essentially tipped off by School Officials and Fairfax County
Police without coordinating with D.C. Homicide. On Tuesday, November 28, 2023,
West Potomac High School ordered Fairfax County Police to go to the defendant’s
residence and notify them that the defendant was not allowed to return to
school in reference to a D.C. Investigation. This information provided the
defendant approximately a week to remove evidence from the residence, such as
clothing, 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and/or 9mm ammunition of the same brand as
used during the homicide.”
But Fairfax County
Police said it wouldn’t have been safe to allow Inabinet to keep going to the
school:
“MPD homicide detectives
appeared at a Fairfax County high school on Tuesday, November 28, interacted
with a School Resource Officer and stated their intention to eventually pursue
criminal charges against a Fairfax County high school student for a recent
firearm murder in their jurisdiction. MPD detectives had not yet obtained
criminal charges. We delivered a letter authored by Superintendent Dr. Michelle
Reid banning the student, a murder suspect, from school until we received
further information. This is a preventive action we own and stand by. The
Fairfax County Police Department has a duty and responsibility to protect our
students.”
Fairfax County Public
Schools also put out a statement attributed to Superintendent Michelle Reid:
“The safety of our
schools remains our top priority and we will always act swiftly to protect our
students and staff. We continue to work collaboratively with Fairfax County
Police, who are partners in this work, and we are in agreement with their
statement...”
Also, surveillance
images allegedly of Inabinet had been out for weeks before the 16-year-old was
banned from school, so he may have already suspected police in D.C. were
investigating him.
D.C.’s chief did not
comment on her detective’s accusation the boy was tipped off by Fairfax County
when asked about it at a press conference Thursday morning.
“In all fairness to the
investigation we’ll let that play out and if there are some things that we need
to do better on our end, obviously we’ll do that,” Metropolitan Police
Department Chief Pamela Smith said.
Grand jury returns indictment for wild chase through Arlington and Fairfax County
Hey, here's a thought.....how about not having high-speed police chases through our neighborhoods that endanger the lives of citizens?
Arrogant or stupid or both
So the cop gets out of his car on Route 28, one of the busiest
roads in all of North America, and leaves his car door open while harnessing a citizen
with a traffic stop. A woman drove by, and not seeing the open door jutted out
on the road, she struck the door with her car.
Guess who got a traffic ticket?
What these clowns want
The Fairfax County Police want the authority of a king and the accountability of a toddler. They twist everything in order to make themselves either the hero or the victim. For these government workers, there is nothing in between.
Big brother is watching you
The
Fairfax County Police Department owns a number of Automatic License Plate
Readers (ALPRs), devices which are mounted on police vehicles or stationary
objects and read every license plate that comes into its field of vision –
potentially thousands of records per minute. The Department stores the records
for up to a year, allowing it to determine particular vehicle locations and
specific dates and times. We filed suit on behalf of Harrison Neal, a Fairfax
County resident whose license plate information has been recorded by the
Department at least twice, arguing that the Department’s use of ALPRs violates
Virginia’s Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act.
FCPD filed a Memorandum in Support of Demurrer on July
31, 2015 asking the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that license plate
records are not “personal data” under the statute. On August 28, 2015,
the judge denied the Demurrer, allowing the lawsuit to move forward. FCPD filed
their Answer to the Complaint on September 18, 2015.
FCPD filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on August 4, 2016
on the basis that the Complaint failed to establish a violation of the
Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act. Neal filed a Motion
for Summary Judgment on August 4, 2016 on the basis that the collection,
storage and use of automated license plate reader information failed to meet
the requirement of the Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices
Act. Both parties subsequently filed Oppositions to the other party's Motion
for Summary Judgment on August 25, 2016. On Sept. 8, 2016, Judge Smith heard
arguments on summary judgment motions filed by Neal and FCPD. The case is
scheduled for trial on Nov. 28-30, 2016. in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
On Nov. 18, 2016, the Fairfax County Circuit Court ruled in
favor of the defendant. We filed the Notice of Appeal on behalf of Harrison
Neal with the Fairfax County Circuit Court on Dec. 20, 2016. Our Petition
for Appeal was filed with the Virginia Supreme Court on Feb. 22, 2017. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an Amicus brief in Support of the
Petitioner's Brief on Feb. 22, 2017. FCPD filed their Brief in Opposition of
Neal's Petition for Appeal on March 17, 2017. On June 22, 2017, the
Supreme Court of Virginia granted our Petition for Appeal. The ACLU
of Virginia filed the Opening Brief on behalf of Harrison Neal on August 1,
2017.
On April 1, 2019, a Fairfax
County judge granted the ACLU
of Virginia’s petition for an
injunction prohibiting the FCPD from collecting and storing ALPR data outside
of an investigation or intelligence gathering related to a criminal
investigation.
How difficult can this possibly be to create?
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — It’s been more than two years since independent researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio suggested to Fairfax County’s Police Department (FCPD) that it consider adding a foot pursuit policy to the lengthy list of rules and guidelines that govern its officers.
While it has yet to be added, a recent
police shooting is fueling a push to implement the change.
Back in February, two FCPD officers
chased 37-year-old Timothy Johnson out of Tysons Corner Center and into a
wooded area beyond the parking lot. They then shot and killed him.
Fairfax County NAACP condemns police chief, claims department is ignoring community concerns
The Fairfax
County NAACP is condemning the Fairfax County police chief, saying has refused
to meet with them on specifics concerning a reported dramatic increase in
shooting incidents and apparent ongoing disparities in policing Black and
Latino people.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - The Fairfax County NAACP is condemning the Fairfax
County police chief, saying has refused to meet with them on specifics
concerning a reported dramatic increase in shooting incidents and apparent
ongoing disparities in policing Black and Latino people.
The accusations come as Police Chief Kevin Davis is outlining his vision
for the department at a county Board of Supervisors presentation.
Man killed outside of
Hyattsville nightclub, police say
The Fairfax County NAACP says Davis is ignoring law enforcement
experts and the community working group appointed by the Board of Supervisors
to study what they describe as a crisis.
If your black, you should probably protect yourself and stay out of Fairfax County and here's why...
A
special grand jury has indicted former Fairfax County Police officer Wesley
Shifflett for fatally shooting 37-year-old Timothy McCree Johnson outside the
Tysons Corner Center mall. The charge against him is involuntary manslaughter
and reckless discharge of a weapon,.
On
Feb. 22, 2023 Shifflett and another cop, James Sadler, chased Johnson into a
wooded area outside the mall after receiving a call that Johnson had allegedly
stolen a pair of sunglasses. Johnson was unarmed
Police
in March released Shifflett’s body-worn camera footage showing Shifflett
running through a retail store inside the mall and eventually following Johnson
outside through a parking garage and onto a dark street.
Johnson,
who is Black, was struck once in the chest and later died.
Shifflett was
fired in March as the department’s Major Crimes Bureau investigated the killing
and presented evidence to Descano. Sadler, the other officer in the chase, was
placed on “modified restricted duty assignment,” meaning he was not permitted
to interact with the public.
Of course this isn't another politically correct promotion to a position we don't need but have to pay for anyway
Fairfax police appoint new director of crime control strategies: Using data analytics as a superpower in fighting crime
FAIRFAX
COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) announced
the promotion of Elizabeth Quintana to Director of Crime Control Strategies
& Data Analytics.
FCPD said it is expected to improve safety around the county through data and
research in the continued effort to fight crime and tackle repeat offenders.
Quintana said her team
doesn’t necessarily patrol the streets but they are a key part of crime control
in Fairfax County through data analytics.
“They may not carry a
badge but they are heroes in the crime fight and their superpower is using
information to help solve crime and reduce it as well,” said Quintana.
Director Quintana joined
FCPD eight years ago as a Crime Analyst for the Mason District, supporting numerous
criminal investigations and providing analysis on crime patterns and repeat
offenders for commanders and patrol officers, according to FCPD.
“They are out there
reading the police reports and bulletins and informing police commanders where
crime is occurring, when crime is occurring and what is motivating those
instances of crime,” said Quintana.
Part of her job is to
reduce repeat offenders. FCPD said she played a major role in a training
program for new crime analysts and served on the Crisis Negotiations Team for
four years.
“We have dashboards that
are available to the commanders and they can look at certain patrol areas or
specific crime types," Quintana added.
The
goal is to reduce and prevent crime –-- by looking at data and information,
then deciding where to use resources, and where to deploy officers, especially
in problem spots or where repeat crimes happen.
This is why these mouth breathers think theyre better than the citizen who pay them. If they arrested YOU your name would be all over the news
SEVEN CORNERS, VA — An off-duty Fairfax County officer was charged in a DUI crash in Seven Corners Saturday, according to police.
The two-vehicle crash happened on
Arlington Boulevard near South Manchester Street in the Seven Corners area on
the border with Arlington County. Police say seven people in the other vehicle
went to the hospital with minor injuries.
The officer was off duty and using a
personal vehicle during the crash.
A holistic approach: Fairfax County police turn to wellness to recruit and retain staff
The Fairfax County Police Department decided to offer a
"WellFit" program as a way to retain the mouth breather who work for
them.
The FCPD can do silly things like this because their flush with cash,
your cash. They hired athletic trainers, a dietician, a physical trainer, and strength
and conditioning coaches, and pays for access to mental health professionals,
like licensed psychologists.
Here's a thought, fire the police chief and bring in someone from the
outside to clean house.
Explain to the new hires (it's too late for the cops who hang out in FCPD
now) that they work for the people, the people don’t work for them.
Stop hiring from the bottom of the barrel.
Stop killing innocent people.
safety initiatives with Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis
Avoid the Fairfax County Police, that's a safe move.
Virginia county expands successful co-responders program to address rising mental health crises?
But you just had a cop zap a mentally disturbed man. Expand what? Zap more mentally disturbed people?
Judge denies former police officer's petition to get his job back after killing unarmed shoplifting suspect
Prosecutors sought charges of involuntary manslaughter and
reckless handling of a firearm after police say a Fairfax County officer shot
and killed a shoplifting suspect near the Tysons Corner Center mall. A grand
jury decided not to indict him. News4’s Julie Carey reports.
A judge denied a petition by a former Fairfax County police
officer to get his job back after he shot and killed a suspect earlier this
year.
In February, Wesley Shifflett killed 37-year-old Timothy
Johnson, who was accused of shoplifting from Tysons Corner Center. Johnson was
unarmed.
Approximately a month later, Shifflett was dismissed from his
job as a police officer.
Police Chief Kevin Davis said Shifflett did not meet the
expectations of the department and did not follow use-of-force protocols.
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Last month, Shifflett petitioned the court to return to his
position, arguing that the county did not follow a legal grievance process when
he was fired.
Earlier this month, a Fairfax County judge ruled in favor of
the county and denied Shifflett's petition.
In April, a county grand jury declined to indict Shifflett on
charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm in
Johnson's death.
The Fairfax County prosecutor has requested a second grand
jury to review the case and consider possible charges.
Fairfax County: These clowns have WAY TO MUCH time on their hands and their overstaffed
"Nearly 15k drivers warned, ticketed in Fairfax during 'Road Shark' campaign this year"
The latest con job by the FCPunk department
This is a PR move in their pee brains. This is old style back road southern country sheriff shakedown. This is how it works, of the 5800 citations issued, if all were paid, the county could raise about $150,000, ensuring the police don't get their budget cut, protecting dozens of redundant jobs. But of the 5,800 the cops won't show up in court for half of them and a large percentage will get tossed out of court, but the two or three dozen assistant police chiefs you pay for, will tell the county that they raised $150,000
Police issue over 5,800 citations, warnings in Fairfax County in just six days
Congratulation Fairfax County, you offically live in a police state
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis wants resident committees at all district stations to stop meeting virtually and recording meetings.
RESTON, VA — Bob Sledzaus resigned as
the chairman of the Reston Community Advisory Committee on May 23, citing
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis' decision to prohibit the recording and
livestreaming of committee meetings.
Bottom of
Form
In his letter, Davis explained that
both councils operate under the authority of the Fairfax County Police Department.
"I have the authority to
structure meetings and associated rules,"
new way to spend your money
The Fairfax County Police Department announced a new
method to waste public money beyond random roadblocks and paying for a navy to
patrol a river under the authority of the Coast Guard. They’ve come up with a cash
sucking device called Zencity some stupid bullshit, a public survey tool used
to understand local concerns, attitudes, and trust in police officers.
Here's the answer to the survey in advance, stop killing
people, hire an outside police chief and stop promoting yourself to better
paying jobs inside the department.
The questionnaire uses the word "holistically”….so now holistically
is part of government speak, it’s a shame, it was a good word.
As an added piss away the publics money feature, the survey will gather responses from residents in
a English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese Urdu, Telugu, and
Amharic.
Which means the English speaking only white boys at FCPD will have to
spend your cash to have the survey printed up in those languages and then use more
of your money to have them translated.
We need to outlaw cops having pursuits that are not matters of life and death
Wild Police Pursuit Leaves Driver Dead
In Fairfax County
A 39-year-old man was ejected from his
car and killed after leading cross-county police pursuit in northern Virginia
over the weekend.
Ashton Robinson, of Culpeper, fled the
scene of a DWI checkpoint in New Baltimore, in a 2011 Dodge Journey around 1:20
a.m. Saturday, April 22, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Robinson was pursued by deputies from
the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office. As he entered Fairfax County heading east
on Lee Highway and Bull Post Office Road in Chantilly when he tried to pass a
2020 Toyota Camry, officials said.
Robinson struck the Camry, left the
roadway, then struck a guardrail. Robinson was ejected from the vehicle and
pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver and passenger of the Camry
were not injured. Preliminarily, speed and alcohol appear to be a factor. No
Fairfax County officers were involved in the pursuit.
We need a national tracking system of bad cops
MPD hired officer accused of striking,
using stun gun on unarmed Black man
Minneapolis police chief orders ‘full
investigation’ into hiring of former Virginia officer Tyler Timberlake
Fairfax County police officer Tyler Timberlake
was arrested after using a stun gun on an unarmed, disoriented Black man
multiple times, hitting him in the head with the Taser and kneeling on his back
and neck. Screen shot from Fairfax County Police Department video
The Minneapolis Police Department
hired a Virginia police officer who was charged with — but acquitted of —
assaulting an unarmed Black man in distress just days after Minneapolis police
officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on a south Minneapolis street.
Body camera footage showed that within
seconds of arriving on the scene, Officer Tyler Timberlake repeatedly used his
Taser on the man and hit him in the head with the stun gun, then kneeled on his
neck and back after the man fell to the ground.
A Minneapolis spokesman confirmed that
Timberlake began working for the MPD on Jan. 9.
After the Reformer inquired about
Timberlake’s hiring, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara released a statement
Tuesday saying he was “extremely concerned” to learn about the hiring and
directed staff to complete a thorough investigation. He said Timberlake is
still in training and hasn’t yet been deployed into service at MPD.
“The individual in question will not
be deployed or serve in a law enforcement capacity in any way until we conclude
a full investigation into this matter,” he continued. “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.”
Asked how Timberlake’s past was
missed, when a Google search turns up dozens of stories about the case, an MPD
spokesman said, “The chief has committed to take any and all appropriate action
to correct the matter once all the facts are known and to institute any
necessary changes to the backgrounds vetting process for the department.”
Timberlake was a Fairfax County police
officer on June 5, 2020 when police were called about a man walking around in
circles on a residential street and shouting that he needed oxygen, according
to a Washington Post account of the incident.
The incident was captured by a body
camera on the first officer who arrived on the scene. It shows a paramedic and
officer approach a man named La Monta Gladney, who is wearing a white tank top
and blue jeans and rambling incoherently. Later, investigators found cocaine
and PCP in his system.
The first officer on the scene and the
paramedic try to coax Gladney into a waiting ambulance.
The video doesn’t indicate that
Gladney, who was unarmed, was a threat to anyone, aside from walking aimlessly
in the middle of a residential street.
Less than three minutes into the video,
Timberlake, then an eight-year veteran of the department, arrives, walks
swiftly toward Gladney and says “Get on the ground, Anthony,” calling Gladney
by the wrong name.
Timberlake would later testify that he
thought Gladney was another man wanted for violent crimes.
Seconds after his approach, Timberlake
uses a Taser on Gladney, causing Gladney to fall on his back. Then Timberlake
tells him to roll over and jams his knees into Gladney’s neck and back; Gladney
then shouts for help.
As Gladney repeatedly yells “DeeDee,”
Timberlake holds the Taser on his back and hits him in the head with the stun
gun before Tasering him again on the back of his neck.
Then, as several officers handcuff
Gladney, the man repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe DeeDee!” The officers and
paramedic roll him onto his side.
Gladney was taken to a hospital,
treated and released. He was later charged with being drunk in public and
resisting arrest, but the charges were dropped a week later, according to
WHSV-TV.
A day after the incident, the county
attorney and Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. held a press
conference, where Roessler called Timberlake’s actions horrible, unacceptable,
criminal and a violation of department policies, according to the Washington
Post.
Timberlake was arrested and charged
with three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery and relieved of duty.
A prosecutor told a judge presiding
over the case that when Timberlake was arrested, he “was already in the process
of moving to Minneapolis,” according to WTOP News. The prosecutor said after
the June 5 incident, Timberlake “didn’t turn in his body-worn camera at the end
of his shift — he went home sick, and didn’t turn it in the next day,” WTOP
reported.
Nearly two years later, in March 2022,
Timberlake was acquitted of the assault charges by a Fairfax County jury.
Timberlake said during the trial that
in addition to mistaking Gladney for someone else, he thought Gladney was a
threat because he appeared to be on drugs. Timberlake testified that he wasn’t
trying to hurt the man, but get him help, and that people on the drug PCP can
be unusually strong and often don’t respond to pain the same way a sober person
does.
The prosecutor said mistaking Gladney
for someone else didn’t justify what Timberlake did, according to WHSV-TV.
Gladney did not testify during the
trial, but sued Timberlake and the county and later settled for $150,000,
according to the Post. In the suit’s court filings, Gladney said he was in the
street trying to get help for a friend who fell unconscious.
Lt. John Crone of the Fairfax Police
Department told the Reformer that Timberlake returned to the Virginia
department after being acquitted, but “left on his own accord,” although he
didn’t know when.
Well here's a surprise, he wrote sarcastically.
Fairfax police officer accused of
killing Timothy Johnson not indicted
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — A
grand jury decided Monday not to indict a police officer whom investigators
said killed a man in February after the man stole sunglasses from a store at
Tysons Corner Center.
Sgt. Wesley Shifflett was accused of
shooting Timothy Johnson on Feb. 22 shortly after the shoplifting was to have
taken place. The Fairfax County Police Department later fired Shifflett.
Court documents filed in Fairfax
County Circuit Court said the grand jury did not believe there was enough
probable cause to indict Shifflett.
‘This was an execution’ | Family of
police shooting victim, and its attorney see body-worn camera video
Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano
released a statement:
Earlier this morning, I sat with
Timothy Johnson’s family and told them I expected an indictment to come today
in the killing of their son, so I can only imagine their pain and shock when
they received the news that the officer who shot and killed their unarmed son
was not indicted. Since, by law, no prosecutors were permitted to be present in
the room when the investigating officers made their presentation to the grand
jury, I can’t say for sure what information was conveyed to the grand jurors.
In light of this outcome, I am evaluating all options on the path forward and
continue to grieve Timothy’s loss.
Two cops, one bad guy, so they shot him? No stun guns, tasers, night sticks? These cops are gun happpy
‘Highly Unusual': Man Killed in Fairfax County Police Shooting Attacked Officer, Chief Says
A man died after he was shot by police in the Alexandria
section of Fairfax County on Thursday afternoon, police say, shutting down a
portion of Richmond Highway during rush hour.
Officers shot 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne of Newport News
in a McDonald's parking lot in the 6300 block of Richmond Highway, just south
of the Capital Beltway and the City of Alexandria, police said after 4 p.m.
An officer investigating a stolen U-Haul found at a gas
station interacted with the driver of the U-Haul, who attacked the officer,
pushing him into the driver’s seat of his cruiser and assaulting him from on
top of him, police said.
The officer under attack radioed he was being attacked and
his assailant had his gun, police said.
During the struggle, the cruiser went in reverse and spun
out of control into the parking lot of the McDonald’s next door.
A 24-year veteran of the police force responded and pulled
the suspect off the officer before shooting the suspect, police said.
“Officers discharged their firearms during the struggle.
The suspect was declared deceased at the scene,” police said in a brief
statement.
Young people ..if they can't get anyone to work for them or stay working for them...CONSIDER THATR
'We're hemorrhaging' Fairfax County police decry
budget proposal as police shortage spikes
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (7News) — The police staffing crisis continues in Fairfax County where
the police department is still short nearly 200 police officers. As other nearby
counties and cities increase police officer pay to keep officers and attract
new ones, Fairfax County is lagging. Last week, Fairfax County Executive Bryan
Hill proposed a new county budget that includes 2% pay raises for every county
employee, including police officers.
Hill
also proposed funding performance, merit and longevity increases.
“The
executive’s budget that was proposed is extremely disappointing,” said Steve
Monahan, the President of the Fairfax Chapter of the Southern States Police
Benevolent Association. “The budget just itself undervalues us entirely. Our
officers are out here overworked, underpaid and now it’s very clear the County
Executive undervalues to the work that they do.”
The
Fairfax County police union is warning residents what could happen if the
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors moves forward with the County Executive’s
budget.
“This
is going to impact Fairfax County citizens and community members in a negative
way,” Monahan said. “I don’t know if the County Executive realizes that. And
the impact that that’s going to do to this prestigious title that this county
has which is the safest jurisdiction of its size.”
“I
think this department [FCPD] is getting to the point of beyond return it’s
going to force the department to cut services,” Monahan added. “The community
members are not going to receive the services they expect.”
The
200-officer shortage comes at a time when several major crimes against people
and property are rising in Fairfax County.
7News
was the first report last summer that the staffing crisis at FCPD got so bad
that the department declared a personnel emergency – forcing officers to work
longer shifts.
“We
are still hemorrhaging and what the county is doing instead of fixing it and
giving us a tourniquet to fix this hemorrhaging they’ve given us a band-aid and
said suck it up," Monahan said. "What we want to see and what we hope
to see is the Board of Supervisors is going to change some things. We know they
have the ability to do that.”
Nearby
cities and counties have increased starting police officer pay while Fairfax
County approved signing bonuses for new officers.
“Thankfully,
Fairfax County has begun signing bonuses,” Monahan said. “But at the end of the
day, what applicant is going to want to come here when the starting pay is at
the bottom in the region? It’s sad to say that Fairfax County used to be the
number one place for applicants to apply to. Now Fairfax County's starting pay
is the lowest in the region. And that’s 18 different agencies. We are at the
bottom for starting pay.”
7News
asked supervisors if they think the proposed budget addresses the police
staffing crisis in Fairfax County.
“It
doesn’t really even start to address it,” Supervisor Pat Herrity told 7News. ard
of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said he wants to find a balance between
providing tax relief to homeowners and pay increases to county employees.
“I
will be meeting with a number of community organizations as well as multiple
Fairfax County employee groups during this year’s budget process as I do every
year,” McKay told 7News in a statement. “I will work with my colleagues to
strike the best balance possible between providing tax relief to County
homeowners and providing well-earned pay increases for our County employees who
provided critical services to our residents. This includes looking at options
above what the County Executive has proposed.”
"This
is a false narrative, it is not a question of pay increases or tax increases,
it is a question of priorities and what is important to our residents,” said
Herrity. “Public safety is clearly a priority of our residents. The Board needs
to be doing the same thing our residents are doing and make the hard choices of
what should be funded and what shouldn't. To date, they could not even second
my motion to begin looking spending for efficiencies or spending reductions as
prior Boards have done in challenging times (under both Democrat and Republican
boards)."
But
with crime on the rise, and officers continuing to leave, Monahan wants all county
leaders to acknowledge there is a problem and to fix it.
“In
the long run, I think the county needs to step up. The county needs to look at
how other entities are prioritizing public safety compensation and do the same
for us,” Monahan said. “Fairfax County has a special police department. Fairfax
County offers services that no other jurisdictions offer. As more and more
officers leave, those specialties that we are able to provide to the community
– the ESRO detective, the crisis intervention team, the helicopter, search and
rescue – entities like that, we are going to have to start having to pull
bodies from.”
“You’ve
seen other jurisdictions reduce calls for service say hey we can’t come to
these calls anymore because we don’t have bodies,” Monahan added. “We’ve seen
other jurisdictions prioritize mental health for officers by cutting back on
the number of hours worked. Instead, we are still in a position where we are
requiring mandatory overtime, we are having officers stay past the end of their
shifts, we are seeing specialties not be fully staffed.”
Budget
public hearings are scheduled for April 11 and April 13.
The
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is expected to make changes to the County
Executive’s budget on May 2 and is set to finalize the budget on May 9.
“Our
officers can’t take it anymore because at the end of the day, they have to go
home and put food on the table for themselves and their family,” Monahan added.
“And when you see a jurisdiction next door paying more than $10,000 starting
pay why would an applicant apply for Fairfax? He [Fairfax County Executive
Bryan Hill] chose to give us 2 [percent raises]. That’s not even keeping in
mind what the national inflation numbers are at. That doesn’t take into account
the health care premiums that could go up. There’s going to be less money going
into our officers' pockets.”
“Based
on the pay plan, general county employees will receive an average 4.06%
increase and public safety employees will receive an average 4.39% increase,” a
Fairfax County news release said.
Hill included $90 million to be allocated at the Board of Supervisors
discretion.