Three Tacoma, Washington, police officers on trial for the death of 2020 death of Manuel Ellis were cleared of all criminal charges on Dec. 21 following a months-long trial.
Two of the police officers, Matthew Collins, 40, and Christopher Burbank, 38, had been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Mr. Ellis, 33. The third officer, Timothy Rankine, 34, had been charged with manslaughter.
All three officers, who had pleaded not guilty, had faced up to life in prison.
Mr. Ellis died in March 2020 while in Tacoma police custody after officers attempted to question him for allegedly trying to open the door of a passing vehicle that had stopped at an intersection, roughly 30 miles south of Seattle.
The police officers said he became aggressive during questioning and at one point lifted Mr. Collins off the ground, throwing him through the air.
However, witnesses told prosecutors they had not seen Mr. Ellis strike the officer or do anything to provoke him. They claimed that Mr. Burbank had knocked Mr. Ellis down after throwing open his car door while Mr. Ellis was standing in front of it, having just spoken to the other two officers.
A doorbell surveillance camera also captured the moments leading up to Mr. Ellis’s death.
Verdict a ‘Huge Sigh of Relief’
Prosecutors said Mr. Rankine also knelt on Mr. Ellis’s back after he was handcuffed face down on the ground, at which point he told the officers he was unable to breathe.Mr. Ellis was declared dead at the scene. The Pierce County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation.
However, attorneys for the three policemen had argued that Mr. Ellis’s death was because of a lethal amount of methamphetamine that was in his system at the time of the incident along with a preexisting heart condition, not from the officers’ actions.
The case “should never have been brought” in the first place, his lawyer said, according to the publication.
Matthew Ericksen, an attorney for the Ellis family, said the verdict was devastating for the victim’s family.
“The biggest reason why I personally think this jury found reasonable doubt is because the defense was essentially allowed to put Manny Ellis on trial,” Mr. Ericksen said.
‘Unfairly Prejudiced Jurors’
“The defense attorneys were allowed to dredge up Manny’s past and repeat to the jury again and again Manny’s prior arrests in 2015 and 2019. That unfairly prejudiced jurors against Manny,” he added.In a press conference following the verdict on Thursday, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, who earlier called for the officers to be fired, called for acknowledgment of the “anger, the distrust, the doubt, the fear, the hurt, and the exhaustion, that we as black people have experienced as a result of the history of policing in this country.”
“In these difficult moments, I am heartened by Tacoma’s long-standing practice of showing up actively and peacefully, and I call on all who want to speak out, to do so in a way that reflects Tacoma’s values,” she added.
The city of Tacoma also released a statement noting Thursday’s verdict may “exacerbate the pain caused by the death of Mr. Ellis.”
“The past nearly four years have been filled with widespread anger, mistrust, and apprehension and have severely divided the people of this city. Even though this criminal process has concluded, Tacoma’s elected and city leaders understand there are many questions about where we all go from here, as a city, as a community, and as a police department,” the city wrote.
Officials added the verdict does not impact the Tacoma Police Department’s internal investigation into Mr. Ellis’s death, which they expect to be completed within 24 hours.
“No criminal trial will bring Mr. Ellis back to his loved ones. The City of Tacoma acknowledges this and the widespread pain this incident caused. City leaders and the Tacoma Police Department will continue their combined commitment to creating a just and transparent model of public safety that aligns with the City’s ongoing efforts to build trust in TPD’s employees and the City overall,” the statement concluded.
The Ellis family reached a $4 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Pierce County, which is home to Tacoma, in 2022.
