A former Minneapolis Police officer’s defamation lawsuit against the city and its police chief went before the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

Former officer Tyler Timberlake was ousted from MPD six months after he was hired in 2023.

It all follows the spread of body camera video in the Twin Cities that showed Timberlake tasing, kneeling on, and striking an unarmed man with a stun gun while working for his previous police department in Virginia in 2020.

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Timberlake sued in December of 2023, claiming the MPD Chief Brian O’Hara was fully aware of that use-of-force incident when he was hired but fired him months later anyway.

Attorneys for Chief O’Hara and the city, on Wednesday, took a second swing at attempting to get the case dismissed during oral arguments before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

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A district court judge denied a similar motion to dismiss the lawsuit last summer.

“Chief O’Hara did not defame Tyler Timberlake,” said an attorney for Chief O’Hara, Vicki Hruby, in her first on-camera remarks following oral arguments.

Hruby would not take questions. Before the court, she argued that the chief’s statements were in the public interest and it didn’t matter what the chief said to the press, claiming his speech was protected by “absolute privilege.”

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“That is a doctrine that exists so that the public receives information and that they have the right to know so that they can be informed. Absolute privilege for public officials helps achieve that,” Hruby continued.

“What the city and Chief O’Hara wanted to do is cut off all litigation,” said an attorney for Timberlake, Joe Tamburino, in an interview following oral arguments.

“They basically say that the chief should get this monumental piece of power, which is absolute privilege; that means absolute immunity. And I think the three judges on the panel were very hesitant to go that far.”

A ruling is expected sometime in the next three months.

Timberlake is seeking monetary damages from the city.