In Our View: Case shows need, challenge of police reform The Columbian Share: The quest for justice in the death of Manuel Ellis while in the custody of Tacoma police highlights the need for police reform throughout Washington. It also illuminates the difficulty in enacting such reform. Criminal charges were filed last week against three officers — 15 months after Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, was killed. During that time, multiple agencies bungled investigations into how Ellis died, with inquiries languishing even as protests sparked by video of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis took place in cities across the country. Gov. Jay Inslee rightly ordered the Washington State Patrol to take over the Ellis case last year. Findings were delivered to the office of Attorney General Bob Ferguson in November, and Ferguson opted to expand the investigation.