Expert: Officers ‘were in a position to know’ Ellis needed ‘urgent medical care’
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The police death of Manuel Ellis
More than a year after Manuel Ellis died in police custody, the attorney general charged three officers in his death.
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A former county detective appeared in state filings against Tacoma officers involved in Manuel Ellis’ death, saying the cops should have known Ellis needed urgent medical care.
Sue Peters, a retired King County detective, reviewed audio and video records as well as witness and officer statements, according to a Washington State Attorney General’s Office news release.
The state announced Thursday three Tacoma officers would be charged with Manuel Ellis’ death.
According to the attorney general’s filings, Peter said two of the officers involved in Ellis’ death — Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins — “were in a position to know” that Ellis needed medical intervention.
“The officers were in a position to know, Ms. Peters explains, that Ellis was in need of urgent medical care, because the officers would have heard him say multiple times he could not breathe,” her opinion stated in the probable cause filing. “They also would have known that Ellis had been hit with multiple rounds from the Taser in his chest, a dangerous area for a Taser application.”
Tacoma officers Burbank and Collins were charged in Pierce County Superior Court with second-degree murder and Timothy Rankine with first-degree manslaughter.
Peters, who worked major crimes and served on the Green River Task Force, also said that once Ellis was hogtied, the third officer — Rankine — used excessive force when he continued to apply pressure to Ellis’ back and to hold him face down on his stomach.
“Rankine’s continued application of force after that point was not only excessive, but violated the Tacoma Police Department’s de-escalation policy, which specifically instructs that “[w]hen situations are reasonably stabilized, application of force must proportionally de-escalate or cease in accordance with the subject actions, when control is gained or threat is removed,” the probable cause said.
Warrants have been issued for the three Tacoma officers, who have been on paid administrative leave since June 3.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died last March of oxygen deprivation, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
He was restrained by police after a minutes-long struggle with officers. Ellis was walking home on March 3, 2020, from a convenience store where he’d gone to get a late-night snack following a church revival.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 2:31 PM.
