State AG’s office to announce charging decision in Manuel Ellis case KIRO 7 News Staff
The state Attorney General’s office will announce whether any Tacoma police officers will be charged in the death of Manuel Ellis on Thursday.
Ellis, 33, died in March of last year following an on-camera confrontation with police.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide due to a lack of oxygen, and also determined methamphetamine and an enlarged heart also played a contributing role.
Ellis family attorney James Bible said at a February news conference that new information revealed Ellis was “hobbled” by five officers, and may have suffocated in handcuffs from the position of his body, while he told the officers “I can’t breathe.”
A mural honoring 33-year-old Manuel Ellis is shown as the sun goes down on Sunday, February 28, 2021, near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South 11th Street following a silent march honoring him in Tacoma. âWe want to make sure that Bob Ferguson knows that Tacoma does not forget trespasses against us,â said Jamika Scott, with the Tacoma Action Collective, to the crowd at Peopleâs Park.âWe wonât forget Manny Ellis,â said Scott. Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
3 Tacoma officers charged in death of Manuel Ellis By
at 11:39 am
Charges have been filed against three Tacoma police officers in the death of Manuel Manny Ellis in 2020.
“I don’t know why this hit me different, just sitting here my eyes are tearing up,” said Draze, Seattle hip-hop artist and Gee & Ursula Show guest host. “As a human, this stuff is a lot.”
Ellis died in Tacoma while in police custody on March 3, 2020, telling officers who were restraining him that he could not breathe. Parallels have since been drawn in the Puget Sound region between Ellis and George Floyd, with members of the community as well as Ellis’ family pushing to see justice served.
Two officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins have now been charged with second-degree murder, while a third, Timothy Rankine, will face first-degree manslaughter charges. In total, six officers were involved.