Man who bailed out Tacoma officers charged with killing Manuel Ellis will run for office
The owner of a construction company who paid to bail out three Tacoma police officers involved in Manuel Ellis’ death is planning a run for Pierce County Council.
Josh Harris has registered with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission to enter the County Council District 7 race to represent Gig Harbor and Key Peninsulas, Fox Island and parts of north and west Tacoma. Council Chair Derek Young (D- Gig Harbor) currently holds the seat and is term-limited after eight consecutive years in office. The annual salary of a County Council member is $117,845.
Candidate filing week, when political hopefuls must formally register to run, is May 16-20.
Harris, who owns Integrity Construction Group, said he is running as a Republican but told The News Tribune he doesn’t subscribe to political parties. He has never run for office before.
“Public safety is number one ... I’m not running to be an R or a D,” Harris said.
Harris, 47, is a Tacoma native. He was a volunteer firefighter at University Place for six years, served on the CrimeStoppers board for eight years, and his brother is a Tacoma police chaplain.
He said he believes recent state legislation, public backlash and low pay have left law enforcement demoralized. He wants officers to feel supported, which led to his decision to bail out the Tacoma officers criminally charged in the Ellis case.
He told The News Tribune he spent $300,000 to bail out Christopher Burbank, 35; Matthew Collins, 38; and Timothy Rakine, 32. Burbank and Collins were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Rankine was charged with first-degree manslaughter. The officers charged have pleaded not guilty. Each of the officer’s bail was set at $100,000.
Ellis died in March 2020 while police officers restrained him. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide, citing lack of oxygen as a cause. That office also indicated the restraints police used contributed to his death.
Harris said he believes the charges, which were brought by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, are politically motivated. He told The News Tribune he knows the officers because they frequently patrolled near the office of his construction company.
“I know them from cleaning up near my office. They are good guys who go the extra mile for the residential area,” he said.
Harris said he feels that Pierce County is not paying enough to incentivize sheriff’s deputies to stay with the department.
Young said the county has increased Sheriff’s Department staffing annually since 2015, and the council was to decide on a $10,000 deputy incentive bill on May 10.
Salary is a contributing factor to the 350-deputy department’s 50 vacancies, but not the only reason, said department spokesman Sgt. Darren Moss. The Black Lives Matter movement and the deaths of George Floyd and Ellis while in police custody have led to recent scrutiny regarding law enforcement’s use of force. Moss said public perceptions of the job have made it difficult to recruit.
Last year, the state Legislature passed two laws regulating police use-of-force policies. House Bill 1054 banned the use of neck restraints, along with other tactics like serving no-knock warrants. House Bill 1310 only allowed officers to use physical force when probable cause exists to make an arrest, prevent an escape or protect against an imminent threat of harm. This year’s legislative session addressed some concerns, but Moss said many deputies had already left over the new laws.
Harris empathizes with officers, stressing that the constant “demonization” of their job is browbeating.
“They are great men and women to do a job no one wants to do,” Harris said. “No one wants to shoot someone, and no one is a bad John out to kill anyone.”
He believes that residents are seeing the impact of shrinking police departments due to increasing crime. Car thefts have increased 99 percent, according to Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs’ March 2021 and 2022 data. Violent crime has increased in Pierce County, and theft has increased by about 48 percent from 2021 to 2022.
“While we have other issues, none of the rest of what we do has any priority or merit if we don’t have public safety,” Harris said. “People pay taxes to provide public safety, on all kinds of different levels, and it’s not being provided and it’s not being done very well.”
Thus far, three other candidates have registered campaign profiles to run for Young’s seat.
One Democrat, former Gig Harbor City council member Robyn N. Denson, who has raised more than $48,000, according to the PDC records.
Of the three filed Republicans, Harris has raised the most by far with $40,000 in contributions. The other two Republican candidates are 2016 lieutenant governor candidate Marty McClendon, who has raised $2,000 in contributions, and 2018 26th District state representative candidate Randy Boss, who has not reported any contributions.
This story was originally published May 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
