The state’s trial of three Tacoma police officers in the death of Manuel Ellis is over for the defendants. But the trauma for Ellis’ family and the mistrust of police by the public will continue to linger.
From the beginning of the investigation to the end of the trial, fairness and equal justice eluded Ellis’ family and the community in general.
When justice fails locally — or even when it succeeds — it’s often fitting for the federal government to step in, such as in the case of George Floyd in Minneapolis; Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn.; and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky. In each of those cases, some of the officers were charged federally with civil rights violations. And in Tacoma, the federal government should investigate the case for possible civil rights violations.
From the start, the case was flawed. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office conducted the initial investigation despite one of its own being present during the police encounter with Ellis.
While Pierce County was investigating the case, two of the Tacoma officers — Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankine, who would be charged in Ellis’ death — assisted the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation of a suspected kidnapping.
It took 15 months, community pressure and the murder of Floyd before the Washington Attorney General’s Office charged the three officers, who remained as paid employees of the police force for the nearly four years it took to adjudicate the case.
Judge Bryan Chushcoff’s conduct during the trial also deserves scrutiny.
Chushcoff mocked the last minutes of Ellis’ life when officers sat on his back as he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe by fondly recalling how he and his brothers used to do the same to each other as children. Yes, you read that right. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled Ellis died from oxygen deprivation from physical restraint.
Chushcoff allowed jurors to hear about Ellis’ prior two arrests. However, he ruled there would be no mention of the 15 use-of-force complaints nor a racial-profiling allegation against Officer Christopher Burbank. Also kept from jurors was the assessment by a police academy trainer who questioned Rankine’s mental fitness.
It’s still unclear how Ellis encountered Tacoma police the night of March 2, 2020, as he walked from a convenience store with doughnuts and water. Although witnesses provided video of parts of the encounter, the Tacoma Police Department didn’t have body or dash cameras at the time. Only at the insistence of Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and community activists were they implemented.
What is clear is that a jury of the officers’ peers has spoken in Pierce County’s Superior Court. An unarmed 33-year-old man died on a Tacoma street after encountering the officers. And federal laws are available to help make sense of what happened.
