Public defenders, Manuel Ellis’ sister call for firing of Tacoma officers in his death
Manuel Ellis’ sister stood in front of Tacoma police headquarters Thursday evening and demanded that her brother receive swift and sure justice.
Ellis died March 3 while in police custody. His death has brought national attention to Tacoma.
“I don’t only want answers, I need this to be solved swiftly,” Monet Carter-Mixon said. “I need a prosecution to be done swiftly. I need people to step down as of yesterday.”
Like many of the others in the crowd of more than 100 people, she wanted law enforcement officers and officials to be fired and held accountable.
“Why not force these people to resign? Why not fire these people?” she asked the crowd. “Charges need to be brought up against them.”
The crowd briefly chanted “lose your job” in response.
On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the Washington State Patrol to take over the investigation of Ellis’ death from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
“My brother was killed, murdered,” Carter-Mixon said. “And it took the governor to see three videos to say, ‘Let’s have an independent investigation.’ ”
A series of videos showing different viewpoints and time frames of Ellis’ arrest and death have emerged in recent days. Ellis can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.”
Thursday’s protest was organized by local public defenders and defense attorneys.
“We’re out first of all for Manuel Ellis,” said co-organizer Joseph Evans, a local criminal defense attorney. “We believe that what happened to him was murder. There is significant evidence that what the police have done is a cover-up.”
Evans said the group also wants changes in police policies.
“Policing in Pierce County is something that all of us are uniquely familiar with as attorneys,” Evans said as vehicles went by, their drivers honking in support.
“We have seen time and time again that the policies of the Tacoma Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department unfairly target people of color, they unfairly affect people of color and the effect is more imprisonment and taking of lives,” Evans said.
Evans said he’s had clients who told him that their rights had been abused by local law enforcement.
“Time and time again, we don’t have the proof to show that it in fact occurred,” Evans said of the abuse. He called for body cameras.
Corddaryl Woodford, another co-organizer and local criminal defense attorney, said he’s also had clients who had unnecessary force used on them by law enforcement.
“Luckily, those clients didn’t lose their lives,” Woodford said.
Woodford said he’s heartened by the community response to the Ellis tragedy, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other police custody deaths around the nation.
“Tacoma is definitely unifying,” Woodford said. “This one is for Manny Ellis and his family, but I think everybody has come out to support the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s been great to see here in Tacoma.”
Co-organizer Dee Sonntag said at least 15 of her fellow public defenders were at the protest. They were not representing the public defenders’ office.
“We can act on behalf of ourselves,” Sonntag said. To further separate themselves from the office and to better organize, they’re forming a nonprofit advocacy group called Lawyers Against Systemic Racism.
“When you’re a public defender, so often you see injustices with your clients or misrepresentations in police reports and you see use of force and you don’t get the report,” Sonntag said.
“With the tragic death of Manuel Ellis, it really just hit home here to Tacoma that this happened. That the Tacoma Police Department and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department continue to lie about what happened. Their versions of the facts keep changing. We keep getting new videos and it’s absolutely devastating how Mr. Ellis died. And so we can no longer stand silent.”
Sonntag called for the four officers involved in Ellis’ death, Christopher Burbank, 34; Matthew Collins, 37; Masyih Ford, 28; and Timothy Rankine, 31, to be fired.
“We want them prosecuted for the death of Manuel Ellis,” she said. “If our clients did the same thing that these officers did to Mr. Ellis, they’d be in prison right now.”
Many also called for the resignation of Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor and sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 9:05 PM.
