Pierce County’s handling of Manuel Ellis case exposes flaws in state’s use-of-force law
Some are calling for a statewide police accountability initiative to be reformed, in part due to failings by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department to follow the law in its investigation of Manuel Ellis’ death.
The March 3 homicide is the first use-of-force case in Pierce County to be investigated since Initiative 940, now known as the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act, went into effect Jan. 6.
Some agencies began investigating each others’ use of force prior to being legally required to do so.
The Ellis investigation has elicited continued criticism from state officials and drawn attention to the lack of oversight for law enforcement agencies investigating uses of force.
Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have both lambasted the Sheriff’s Department for failing to immediately identify a conflict of interest after learning a deputy helped Tacoma police restrain Ellis and for not appointing two community representatives to the investigative team.
“These requirements are not complicated, and, unfortunately, Pierce County utterly failed to meet these basic requirements,” Ferguson told The News Tribune on Tuesday. “They’re not just important — they are critical for public transparency and confidence that these investigations are conducted in a truly independent fashion.”
LETCSA requires independent investigations in incidents where police use of force results in death or serious injury.
Under the new law, Pierce County investigated after Ellis died while in Tacoma police custody.
Statewide voters approved the law in 2018, but it took time to create new rules related to training and independent investigations.
Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission spent months laboring over which rules to adopt and how to implement them, and they are all now in effect.
New rules for de-escalation and mental health training went into effect in December 2019. Independent investigations of police force resulting in death or serious injury were required as of Jan. 6, 2020.
There is no oversight body checking to see if law enforcement is complying with LETCSA.
“Like so many things in life, it’s the community, the people vested in this and this legislation,” said Jerrell Wills, manager of the Training Commission’s Applied Skills Training Division. “We’re so early into this, and it’s definitely a challenge. There’s such varying degrees of experience and expertise from one agency to the next, and it’s going to take some time to get investigators up to speed on an equal plain of experience.”
Ferguson said Tuesday the issue of oversight needs to be addressed.
He also announced his office would be looking into 30 statewide use of force cases — 21 fatal, seven injury and three unknown — to determine whether other law enforcement agencies have been complying with LETCSA.
Sue Rahr, executive director for the Training Commission, said she’s spoken to some legislators who are interested in developing oversight and accountability for the initiative, but nothing has been decided.
For now, law enforcement does not have to report use of force to the state, so there’s no way to collect or analyze data.
It’s also difficult because LETCSA dictates statewide rules, but the criminal justice system is local and elected officials make different decisions county by county, she said.
“The most difficult and fundamental challenge we are facing now is a conflict in expectations,” Rahr said in an email.
Use-of-force incidents
In Pierce County, there have been eight use-of-force incidents investigated under LETCSA. Six of those were fatal.
Although independent investigations weren’t required before January, Tacoma police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department began as far back as September.
One incident, the May 1 fatal shooting of Said Joquin by a Lakewood police officer, is being investigated by the Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit.
That team is comprised of investigators from Puyallup, Fife, Bonney Lake, Milton, Sumner, Lakewood and the Washington State Patrol.
It investigates police-involved deaths or serious injuries for all jurisdictions except Tacoma and Pierce County. Those two agencies have thus far investigated each other’s use of force.
Joquin’s death during a traffic stop is the only incident the Crime Response Unit has handled since I-940 passed.
One of the team’s two commanders, Puyallup Capt. Ryan Portmann, said no Lakewood officers responded to the scene after the shooting or are assisting in the Joquin investigation.
“We limit involved agency personnel from being involved,” Portmann said.
Portmann has sent out weekly updates on the investigation’s status as required by LETCSA.
That team appears to be the only one in Pierce County complying with that section of the law.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the Tacoma Police Department have not provided weekly updates on the investigations they’re handling but said they plan to in the future.
Neither agency nor the Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit have selected community representatives to join the investigative teams. The new law requires each investigating agency to create a roster of people to work with investigators.
Although the community reps do not investigate the use of force, they can help choose detectives, review potential conflicts of interest and information released to the media and be able to look over evidence and reports at the end of the investigation.
Most agencies said they are trying to determine a selection process, whether it be accepting applications or reaching out to various community groups for interested parties.
Rahr, a former King County sheriff who helped write I-940 guidelines, said the initiative was implemented quickly and that could explain why some law enforcement agencies are not yet complying with every requirement.
“The law went into effect with very little time for agencies to ramp up,” she said. “More work remains. As each jurisdiction develops procedures that work in their community, adjustments and improvements will be made.”
Criticism from state officials
State officials have chastised the Sheriff’s Department for its investigation into the death of Ellis, who died of oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint by Tacoma police.
Ferguson and Inslee have called out the Sheriff’s Department for what they see as failures to follow LETCSA provisions, including not appointing community members to the investigative team, not designating a family liaison and not disclosing a conflict of interest for more than three months.
Inslee on June 17 ordered the Washington State Patrol to start a new investigation into Ellis’ March 3 death.
“I believe the sheriff’s office needs to answer serious questions about what happened, and did not happen, in the months since then,” he said.
Ferguson said he believes Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor should apologize to Ellis’ family for not complying with parts of I-940.
“It was a high-profile initiative on a high-profile and important issue. That’s why Pierce County’s failure is so disturbing,” he told The News Tribune on Tuesday. “It matters a lot. They need to own that failure. They need to apologize to the community. They need to apologize to the family. They need to get their house in order.”
Pastor doesn’t know the source of information for Ferguson’s criticism and has not publicly responded.
“We look forward to the public seeing our full investigation when the AG and WSP determines that’s appropriate,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement, adding it will not address I-940 questions until the state completes its investigation into Ellis’ death.
When sheriff’s investigators went to turn the case over to Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett earlier this month, they revealed a deputy responded to the scene of Ellis’ death and helped restrain him, which was not publicly known before then.
That disclosure prompted Inslee to order a new investigation into Ellis’ death, which will be done by the Washington State Patrol and reviewed by the AG’s office.
A single team for Pierce County
To streamline the process of independent investigations, all Pierce County law enforcement agencies have been working since November to create a single team.
Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, who is spearheading the process, said they are just waiting on a few more signatures from police chiefs before launching.
Although all police chiefs have agreed to the terms, the COVID-19 outbreak slowed the process of collecting signatures.
Once that’s done, agencies will begin selecting investigators to work on the Pierce County Force Investigation Team.
Not every agency will contribute personnel because not every agency has available resources or the proper experience.
“The benefits are we can still meet the requirements of I-940, we’re not just reliant on any one agency and there’s more uniformity,” Zaro said. “The police know what to expect, and the citizens know what to expect.”
The team will have four commanders from different jurisdictions to oversee investigations, and an executive board to provide a layer of oversight. The Pierce County Police Chief’s Association will also review the investigations to ensure compliance.
Although some smaller agencies currently contract with the Sheriff’s Department for investigations, the new team will not charge for its services.
“We don’t want somebody to not do this and come up with a process of their own that could compromise everybody’s transparency,” Zaro said.
In the meantime, agencies are working to complete LETCSA-required training by Jan. 1, 2028.
Every law enforcement officer must complete 24 hours of violence de-escalation training and 16 hours in courses like the historical intersection of race and policing, alternatives to booking, understanding local cultures and building respectful relationships.
“This training is very valuable,” Wills said. “It really allows officers to look at the way they do work in a different fashion.”
The Criminal Justice Training Commission is in charge of training the 10,871 officers, deputies and troopers statewide.
Several training sessions had to be canceled due to the pandemic, but the commission is looking at how to move forward with online exercises.
The plan is to train instructors from each region so they can hold training sessions for law enforcement officers near them.
Nobody in Pierce County has attended instructor training yet, Wills said.
Pierce County use of force incidents investigated under LETCSA provisions:
▪ Sept. 8, 2019: A Tacoma police officer fatally shot Bennie Branch. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department investigated.
▪ Nov. 3, 2019: Two Pierce County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Curtis French in Parkland. Tacoma police are investigating.
▪ Nov. 29, 2019: Three Pierce County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Shawn Wilcox in Eatonville. Tacoma police are investigating.
▪ Dec. 22, 2019: A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy shot and injured a man in Graham. Tacoma police are investigating.
▪ March 3: Four Tacoma police officers arrested Manuel Ellis, who died of oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint. The Washington State Patrol is investigating.
▪ March 6: A Puyallup officer shot and injured a man. Tacoma police are investigating.
▪ April 7: Five Pierce County sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Brandon Stokes in Eatonville. Tacoma police are investigating.
▪ May 1: A Lakewood officer fatally shot Said Joquin. The Cooperative Cities Crime Response Unit is investigating.
Note: Although independent investigations were not required before Jan. 6, some agencies started following protocols before then.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 11:38 AM.
