What does a recent hiring controversy mean for Minneapolis Police Department-community relations?

[THEME MUSIC] CATHY WURZER: And our top story of the day, a new twist in the story of the hiring and firing of Minneapolis Police officer Tyler Timberlake. Last week, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara admitted to knowing about Timberlake's use of force history when he hired him last fall. Timberlake was accused of assaulting an unarmed Black man in his last job. That incident was captured on body camera video.

O'Hara claimed in a statement yesterday that while he was aware of the incident, he had not seen the video when he agreed to hire Timberlake. Timberlake was fired from the MPD last week. We reached out to Chief O'Hara, as well as his boss, Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Cedric Alexander, about this. O'Hara did not respond in time for this interview and Commissioner Alexander declined to talk.

To parse out all of this, MPR reporter Matt Sepic is on the line right now. Hey, thanks for taking the time, Matt. How are you?

MATT SEPIC: Good. How are you, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for joining us. Thank you. I'm good.

Tyler Timberlake started with the MPD back in January. So why has this become a story many months after the fact?

MATT SEPIC: Well, this goes back really to April. That's when Dina Winter over at the Minnesota Reformer, an online news outlet, reported that the Minneapolis Police Department had hired Timberlake, an officer who'd been charged, and later acquitted by a jury, of three counts of misdemeanor assault.

And this incident in question, as you mentioned, goes back to early June of 2020 in Fairfax County, Virginia. That's where Timberlake was working as an officer at the time. He had reportedly mistook a Black man, by the name of Lamonta Gladney, for someone else who was wanted for violent crimes. On body camera video, Timberlake can be seen tasing Gladney and pressing his knees into the Black man's back and neck. Gladney did not appear to be combative in this video, but he was in mental distress. And investigators later allegedly found cocaine and PCP in his system.

The incident, by the way, happened 11 days after George Floyd's murder here in Minneapolis. And at the time, the Fairfax County Police Chief called it horrible and a violation of department policies. And it wasn't exactly a secret, Cathy. The Washington Post and other media in that area reported on it in 2020. The body camera video became public. And news of Gladney's lawsuit and subsequent $150,000 settlement with Fairfax County was also widely reported.

CATHY WURZER: So Timberlake leaves Virginia, gets a job in Minneapolis, right. So Chief O'Hara's story about this appears to have changed a few times. So take us through the communication he's had with the public about all of this.

MATT SEPIC: Yeah. In its initial story, the Reformer included a statement from O'Hara-- who was sworn in in November, he's a relatively new chief on the job-- O'Hara said he was, "extremely concerned," this is what he told the Reformer, "to learn about Timberlake's hiring." Didn't mention Timberlake by name in that statement. The statement went on to say that the officer "would not be deployed or serve in a law enforcement capacity in any way until we conclude a full investigation into this matter."

I reported last week that Timberlake's final day with the MPD was Wednesday. I asked Mayor Jacob Frey about this on Thursday, in fact, bumped into him outside of City Hall on Thursday. But because of privacy laws, the mayor told me he couldn't say if the officer resigned or was fired.

Then Friday, we got a statement from Minneapolis Police Federation President Sergeant Cheryl Schmidt, who said that O'Hara took part in Timberlake's final interview, final job interview, and was "fully aware of his history." And Schmidt says in her statement that Timberlake was "assured by Chief O'Hara he would be OK if he did good work." That's from the police federation. Now the union says there's nothing to preclude Timberlake from serving under state law, because he was acquitted in that incident in Virginia, and releasing him from employment is counterproductive at a time of severe staffing shortages with the MPD.

Now in emails to city staff that the Star Tribune published over the weekend, Timberlake writes that O'Hara was fully aware of the incident and "found it easier to defame me than own the truth."

CATHY WURZER: OK. There's a lot there. Yeah. So Chief O'Hara, seems like he's kind of caught here between what he initially said and the statement that came out over the weekend.

MATT SEPIC: Right. Well, and now there's another statement yesterday, as you mentioned, Cathy. This followed the Star Tribune story. And O'Hara's latest statement, to say the least, is very carefully worded. He said that in his second day on the job as chief, he "observed Mr Timberlake's interview." And his statement-- this is the one out yesterday-- goes on to say, "I did not know of the existence of video capturing a use of force incident involving this individual until after receiving a media inquiry." This is a reference to the Reformer's reporting back in April.

It goes on to say, "upon learning of the existence of video and seeing it myself, I immediately ordered an investigation into MPD's hiring processes." Now it's worth pointing out here, Cathy, O'Hara says he didn't know of the video, but he does not say whether he knew about the incident itself and Timberlake's history at his old job with the Fairfax County Police Department.

CATHY WURZER: I'm curious about the community reaction to all of this. What have you been hearing?

MATT SEPIC: Well, our colleague Nina Moini was just at a news conference only about an hour ago with the Unity Community Mediation Team. This is a group of African-American pastors that's been pushing for police reform and working with the MPD on these sorts of issues since 2003, two decades now. The Reverend Ian Bethel is the leader of that group. And he says Timberlake's hiring was a breach of trust and shows a lack of transparency, particularly as the city is beginning to negotiate over both state and federal consent decrees that will likely lead to court oversight. Here's what Reverend Bethel had to say.

IAN BETHEL: Why can you bring an officer like that into this city with all that's going on in this city? And what this does, it tears down the trust that we have gained in the past two years for healing. I mean, for real healing. Because none of this is going to take place if there's not real healing.

MATT SEPIC: That's the Reverend Ian Bethel speaking just about an hour ago to our colleague Nina Moini. And the Reverend says they requested a meeting with Jake, with Mayor Jacob Frey, on Saturday to discuss this issue with former officer Timberlake. But Cathy, they have yet to hear back from the mayor on this.

CATHY WURZER: And of course, as I mentioned in my lead, we wanted to talk to who actually is, I guess, the boss of Chief O'Hara, Commissioner Cedric Alexander, and he declined to talk.

That quote that you just had there, that soundbite, tears down the trust that is trying to be built between communities of color and the MPD and the city of Minneapolis. So moving forward, what has Chief O'Hara-- has he mentioned anything about that?

MATT SEPIC: Well, he has commented very little on this. I mean, there have been the statements both to the Reformer and to generally the public and other media organizations that he has put out. I think part of the issue here from the city's point of view is that they are limited by law in what they can say about personnel matters. But it's safe to say that many in the community are not buying that entirely and saying that that is really kind of a fig leaf to avoid difficult conversations about who they hired in and when and why.

CATHY WURZER: Do you think that, from what you're hearing, that this might result in maybe city officials looking at the MPD's hiring practices moving forward?

MATT SEPIC: Well, that is what the UCMT, the Unity Community Mediation Team, certainly wants as they take part in these discussions, as other community groups are doing with this consent decree. Could the hiring process be part of that? We'll have to see. It is difficult to say at this point. But it's certainly an issue that not only they, but other police reform groups, like Communities United Against Police Brutality, Michelle Gross's group, have been pushing for. They were the ones, covered a news conference about a month ago where they were demanding that Timberlake be fired. So this is certainly an issue that is not going to be going away, particularly as we discuss police reform here in Minneapolis, with these dual consent decrees moving ahead.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Matt Sepic, thanks for running this all down for us. We appreciate it.

MATT SEPIC: Sure. You're welcome.

CATHY WURZER: That's MPR News reporter Matt Sepic.