FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Prosecutors are dropping charges against an African-American man shot by a Fairfax County, Virginia police officer with a stun gun.
Authorities said La Monta Gladney was the victim when Fairfax County police officer Tyler Timberlake, who is white, shot him with a stun gun last week in the county’s Gum Springs neighborhood.
Still, Gladney wound up being charged with public drunkenness and resisting arrest. Prosecutors said Thursday they will drop those charges.
“I have also reviewed the sections of the Code of Virginia under which Mr. Gladney has been charged,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement. “I have determined that the evidence is insufficient to support these charges. Therefore, I have instructed my office to dismiss the charges against Mr. Gladney without delay.”
Body-worn camera footage shows Gladney speaking incoherently while officers try to persuade him to go to a detox center. Several minutes later, Timberlake arrives, advances toward Gladney and shoots him with a stun gun.
Timberlake is still facing assault charges.
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