‘Did No Wrong Whatsoever’: Former White Deputy Fired for Punching Black Woman Holding Baby Flips the Script with Lawsuit Claiming He’s the Real Victim Who Was Fired Because of His Race
A white former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy has filed a lawsuit claiming to be a victim of racism when he says he was wrongfully terminated for punching a Black woman in the face to snatch her 3-week-old baby – insisting he would never have been fired had the woman been white.
Timothy Gardner claimed he punched Yeayo Russell for the safety of the baby who had not been riding in a car seat, which is a traffic infraction in California, punishable by a fine.
But Russell who said she had been breastfeeding her baby ended up spending four days in jail on a felony child endangerment charge — a charge prosecutors ended up dismissing.
The incident took place on July 14, 2022, after deputies pulled over a car they said was being driven without headlights, accusing the male driver of being intoxicated. Russell was one of three women in the car holding their babies in their arms.
She filed a lawsuit in 2023 that has resulted in a tentative settlement, but the settlement has not yet been approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Last week, Gardner filed his lawsuit against Los Angeles County which oversees the sheriff’s department, accusing the law enforcement agency of “unconstitutional policing practices, a lack of transparency, and a lack of accountability for executives engaging in wrongful and illegal conduct, which has been ongoing for decades and continues today.”
Gardner’s main claim is that he was fired because video of the incident was considered “bad optics” by LASD North Patrol Chief Dennis Kneer.
“Y’all gonna have to shoot me dead to take my baby from my arms,” Russell cried as deputies tried to snatch her baby, according to the video posted below.
Gardner also accused Russell of threatening to break her baby’s legs but the video shows that the mother was blaming the deputies for attempting to break her baby’s legs by snatching it from her hands.
“Kneer reasoned that because Gardner was white and the suspect threatening to break the baby’s legs or worse was Black, it would be bad optics for members of the public to see video of the incident,” the lawsuit states.
His lawsuit also claims he would never had been fired if he had punched a white woman to snatch her baby or if it would have been a Black deputy punching Russell instead of himself. Adding that he should have been “commended” for his actions and LASD proclaimed his innocence.
“Deputy Gardner’s innocence is not disputable,” the lawsuit read. “LASD and the County made admissions that Gardner did no wrong whatsoever.”
To further bolster his claim, Gardner offered examples of similar incidents that were not met with the same degree of punishment.
“Kneer was well aware that hundreds of times Caucasian deputies used the same methods as Gardner’s tactics on Caucasian suspects, hundreds of times Hispanic/Latino deputies used the same methods as Gardner’s on Latino suspects, and hundreds of time African American deputies used the same methods as Gardner on African American suspects, and in those instances the deputies were not punished, as they should not have been,” the claim states.
“So, the only issue here for Gardner was that Plaintiff was white and the suspect Black.”
History of Racial Profiling
However, Russell’s lawsuit claims the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has a history of racial profiling and excessive force against Black people, which has been confirmed by a United States Department of Justice investigation as well as documented multiple times by Atlanta Black Star, including the time a Black woman was shot and killed by a deputy after calling 911 for help in a domestic violence situation, and the time a Black man was forced out of his own home without pants or underwear, accused of breaking into his own home.
“The policies and customs behind the use of excessive force and assaulting black women, such as PLAINTIFF RUSSELL, are fundamentally unconstitutional and constitute a menace of major proportions to the public,” Russell’s lawsuit states.
The two-year USDOJ investigation concluded in 2015 focused on how deputies treated citizens in the Antelope Valley, an area in northern Los Angeles County that includes the city of Palmdale which is where the baby-snatching incident took place.
According to the USDOJ report:
In Palmdale, two-thirds of the city’s 150,000 residents are black or Hispanic. But percentage-wise, Latino and black residents were far more likely to be stopped and searched than other ethnicities in the area. In many cases, deputies were often released without ever being cited, calling into question the legitimacy of the initial stop.
Additionally, the DOJ reported a number of documented cases where deputies unnecessarily placed black individuals in the backs of patrol cars for petty offenses. This is a clear Fourth Amendment violation.”
The data also show a clear racial disparity for African Americans when stopped for offenses where law enforcement discretion is greatest. Such charges include offenses such as crossing against a traffic light, jaywalking, failing to yield right of way, or walking on the wrong side of the street.
With regard to highly discretionary pedestrian stops and searches, regression analysis of LASD data for 2011 indicates that that an African-American pedestrian in Lancaster is over 25% more likely than a white pedestrian to be stopped for a discretionary offense.
So other than Gardner’s assertions that he was a victim of racial profiling, the evidence shows it is the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department victimizing minorities by profiling them.
But despite painting himself as the victim, Gardner does acknowledge “a long and shameful history of racism in the United States against African Americans.”
“There have been shameful incidents throughout American history of black citizens being subjected to violence due to their race, among the most recent involving white officer Derek Chauvin using excessive force against George Floyd and costing the latter his life,” Gardner’s claim states.
“But these facts do not justify LASD’s racism treatment and scapegoating of Deputy Gardner.”
“If not for Deputy Gardner being white/Caucasian, he would not have been disciplined for saving a baby,” Gardner’s claim states.
“Not only were Deputy Gardner’s constitutional rights violated, but he is also a victim of racism and racial discrimination.”