Ex-deputy accused of punching Palmdale mother holding baby sues county for firing him

Nearly two years after a Black mother sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department because, she said, a Palmdale deputy punched her in the face during a wrongful arrest, the deputy has filed suit as well.

Timothy Gardner — who was fired over the 2022 incident — lodged his complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday . He accused the Sheriff’s Department of wrongly firing him because it was “bad optics” for a white officer to hit a Black woman, which he says he only did in an attempt to save her child from a risky situation.

“Deputy Gardner saved a baby when the suspect was threatening to break the baby’s legs,” the suit alleged. “If Deputy Gardner were not white, he would not have been terminated.”…

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