Watch: Tacoma Mayor Woodards spoke at 3:30 p.m. after ruling on Manuel Ellis death

Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards spoke Wednesday about the investigation into the death of Manuel Ellis.

Ellis died during an altercation with Tacoma police on March 3. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined Ellis died of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia due to physical restraint with contributing factors that included methamphetamine intoxication and dilated cardiomyopathy, commonly known as an enlarged heart.

The Medical Examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide, which legally means he was killed by another person. Fatal police shootings, for instance, are generally determined to be homicides. It is up to prosecutors to decide if police acted lawfully and if the homicide was justifiable or a criminal act was committed.

In a press release earlier Wednesday, Woodards said:

“While Tacoma has come together peacefully to have hard conversations about the change that needs to happen to save African-American lives, we have seen how the tension of this issue and these lost lives have spilled over into more violence nationally.

“As we wait to learn more about Manuel Ellis’ death, I want to continue the dialogues that we have started here in Tacoma on what we must change going forward to prevent further loss of life.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 3:03 PM.