Officers on trial in deadly arrest of Black pedestrian
TACOMA, WASH. >> Police wrestle the unarmed Black man to the sidewalk. One officer pushes his face into the pavement as he pleads in vain: “Can't breathe.”
Witnesses capture the scene at a dark intersection on their cellphones — one yells, “Hey! Stop! Oh my God, stop hitting him!” — and the medical examiner rules the man's death a homicide.
The story evokes images of George Floyd begging for his life under the knee of a Minneapolis officer in May 2020. But this wasn't Floyd.
This is the story of Manuel Ellis, who died, hogtied and handcuffed by three Tacoma officers, nearly three months before Floyd's death would spark an international outcry against police brutality.
Ellis' death, which coincided with the first U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 at a nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, became a touchstone for racial justice demonstrators locally but did not garner the attention of Floyd's murder in front of a crowd in broad daylight.
Still, the trial of the officers charged in Ellis' case is another example of video footage of a violent arrest possibly playing a critical role in determining whether the police should be held accountable.
It's also the first trial under a 5-year-old Washington state law designed to make it easier to prosecute police who wrongfully use deadly force. Opening statements are expected this week in a trial that could last more than two months.
Ellis, 33, was walking home with doughnuts from a 7-Eleven on the night of March 3, 2020, when he passed a patrol car stopped at a red light. Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank sat inside.
After what witnesses said appeared to be a brief conversation between Ellis and the officers, Burbank, in the passenger seat, threw open his door, knocking Ellis down. The officers, both White, tackled and punched Ellis, with one stunning him with a Taser as the other held him in a neck restraint. A third officer, Timothy Rankine, arrived after Ellis was already handcuffed, face-down, and knelt on his upper back as Ellis pleaded for breath.
Police claimed Ellis had tried to open the door of another vehicle at the intersection, struck the window of their cruiser and swung his fists at them, but witnesses said they observed no such things.
The three civilian witnesses all said they never saw Ellis attempt to strike the officers, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Washington attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the case.