TACOMA, Wash. — The jury found the three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis not guilty on all charges on Thursday afternoon.
Ellis was a 33-year-old Black man who died while handcuffed and hogtied in police custody in March 2020.
Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins were found not guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges related to Ellis' death. The jury found Timothy Rankine not guilty of first-degree manslaughter.
The jury also found all three officers not guilty on the lesser second-degree manslaughter charge.
On Thursday, family members and supporters of Manuel Ellis began to cry as the verdicts were read by Judge Bryan Chushcoff, then walked out of the courtroom.
The officers' family members and supporters breathed sighs of relief, as hugs and pats on the back were exchanged. Family members told KING 5 they are still grappling with the jury's decisions.
Since Ellis' death in 2020, he and his family have been in the spotlight about policing in the city of Tacoma. While their advocacy for change has led to some police reforms in Tacoma, Thursday's decision will reverberate throughout the community.
Jury deliberations began on Dec. 14, although the jury had to restart with alternates twice due to illness and a sick family member. The current jury has been deliberating since Tuesday morning.
The former Pierce County medical examiner determined Ellis’ death was caused by the “constellation of restraint methods” used against him by police. Ellis’ legs were tied together and connected to his hands, which were cuffed behind his back. A spit hood had been placed over his head and one officer, Rankine, admitted to kneeling on Ellis’ back, pressing him into the ground.
Video taken by eyewitnesses to the confrontation between police and Ellis shows Collins throwing punches and Burbank aiming a Taser at Ellis’ chest while Ellis could be seen putting his hands in the air. Defense for the officers argued that eyewitness video, which was essential in getting Ellis’ death investigated by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, only showed a small part of the fight and did not capture the very beginning, where they allege Ellis was the aggressor.
Before they began filming, two eyewitnesses said they saw Ellis walking down the street before the fight broke out. The witnesses said Ellis was behaving normally. One woman, Sara McDowell, said she saw Ellis walk up to the passenger side of the police car as if someone had called him over. McDowell said Ellis was knocked over by the passenger side door of the car as he turned to walk away, at which point both officers got out and started beating him. McDowell and another eyewitness, Seth Cowden, said Ellis was not fighting back against the officers and the officers repeatedly assaulted him even though Ellis was not resisting.
In an interview with a Pierce County Sheriff’s detective in the aftermath of Ellis’ death, Collins alleged Ellis was in the middle of the intersection at South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South when he and his partner pulled to a stop at a red light. Collins said he saw Ellis attempting to get into the passenger side of a car making a left turn and did not know if he was witnessing a possible carjacking or domestic violence situation. Collins said he called Ellis over to the patrol car and asked what he was doing. Collins recalled Ellis saying something to the effect of “I need some help and I have warrants.” Collins said he told Ellis to sit over on the sidewalk. Both officers said Ellis came around to the passenger side door of the police vehicle and began beating on the window after threatening Burbank. Collins said he got out of the car to confront Ellis, who he alleged picked him up by his vest and threw him onto his back in the intersection, which is when he said the fight started.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department tried to find the driver of the car Ellis allegedly attempted to get into, but no one ever came forward.
Defense for the three officers argued it was a toxic and potentially fatal level of methamphetamine discovered in Ellis’ system during the autopsy and not the actions taken by officers that caused his death.
The trial is historic in the state of Washington, being the first after the passage of Initiative 940, which removed a requirement for prosecutors to prove police were acting with malice to bring criminal charges for misusing deadly force.