Inslee appoints Washington State Patrol to investigate death of Manuel Ellis

Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday ordered the Washington State Patrol to begin a new investigation into the March 3 death of Manuel Ellis, who died after being restrained by Tacoma police.

The investigation will start by the end of the next week, Inslee said.

“This is the best way to give the Ellis family and the entire community the thorough, fair and independent investigation this case demands,” Inslee said. “We must all demand that level of accountability.”

The governor said State Patrol Chief John Batiste immediately will collect records from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, which had been conducting the investigation before local and state officials determined last week there was a conflict of interest.

A sheriff’s deputy was on scene and participated in restraining Ellis, a fact which was not made public before sheriff’s investigators met with Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett June 10.

The deputy has not been placed on administrative leave or named like the four involved Tacoma officers.

The Tacoma officers have been identified as Christopher Burbank, 34; Matthew Collins, 37; Masyih Ford, 28; and Timothy Rankine, 31.

Ellis’ family and activists have been demanding a new investigation since learning the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Ellis’ death a homicide and determined that he died of oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint.

It also was determined Ellis had a potentially fatal amount of methamphetamine in his system and heart disease, which were considered to be contributing factors in his death, according to autopsy findings.

On Wednesday, an attorney representing Ellis’ family said they’d rather see the state create a separate agency to investigate alleged wrongdoing by law enforcement officers but recognizes that is not currently an option.

“We need a department that’s as close to independent as possible,” attorney James Bible said. “The Washington State Patrol is probably that department. But it won’t stop the family and the attorneys and others invested in social justice from investigating this case. We’ll continue to do the work we’ve been doing.”

In recent weeks, the Ellis family and Bible have found three witnesses and at least two videos showing portions of Ellis’ encounter with officers. One of the recordings captured Ellis saying, “I can’t breathe, sir, I can’t breathe.”

Batiste will form an investigatory team that is called for under the police review provisions of Initiative 940, which statewide voters approved in 2018. It bars law enforcement agencies from investigating themselves.

When the State Patrol finishes its investigation, Inslee said he will refer the case to Attorney General Bob Ferguson for any possible criminal charges of the Tacoma officers involved.

A state trooper also was briefly on the scene of Ellis’ arrest.

“After being interviewed by the Patrol and the Attorney General’s Office, it was determined that this trooper’s activities were limited,” Inslee said. “Still, the Patrol will exclude that one trooper from any activities in the investigation and wall him off from that process.”

In a statement, the governor claimed sheriff’s investigators did not contact the trooper or ask for a statement about what he witnessed at the scene, a fact which the Sheriff’s Department refutes.

The Sheriff’s Department said the trooper’s report has always been part of the case file.

Inslee said it appears the Sheriff’s Department did not follow the requirements of I-940 because it did not appoint community members to assist in the review and did not appoint a family liaison.

Inslee said the focus is currently on launching a new investigation into Ellis’ March 3 death, adding, “But I believe the sheriff’s office needs to answer serious questions about what happened, and did not happen, in the months since then.”

Although a specific family liaison was not appointed in the Ellis case, the lead detective had been in touch with one of Ellis’ relatives, the Sheriff’s Department told The News Tribune.

Sheriff’s officials acknowledged that no community members were appointed to the investigative team and said Tacoma police did not provide them with community member names either.

Under I-940, the agency involved in the incident is responsible for providing community members to review the case.

Tacoma police and the Sheriff’s Department, in addition to other police departments in Pierce County, have said they are in the process of deciding how to select community members to review the investigations under I-940.

“I respect the governors office and the WSP,” Sheriff Paul Pastor told The News Tribune. “We stand ready to answer any and all questions from the WSP investigators.”

Inslee said members of the State Patrol’s investigative team will be chosen soon, and their names released within 72 hours.

This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 3:16 PM.