‘They will have to answer.’ Tacoma faith leaders pray, speak on officers’ acquittal
Tacoma faith leaders gathered Friday afternoon in a church on the city’s Hilltop to pray for peace and justice in the wake of the acquittal of three police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis.
Bishop Lawrence White, president of the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, stood at the lectern of Shiloh Baptist Church with 18 other faith leaders. White said they had come together out of concern for the families of both Ellis and the officers tried for his death in their custody the night of March 3, 2020.
Speaking in front of television news cameras, White said it was a critical moment in Tacoma’s history and that it would be used to guide and inform change. City and county law enforcement agencies have made some progress to reform, he said, but there is a long way to go.
“We commit ourselves to continue to work for justice within our criminal justice system to build better structures, operations that assure that law enforcement serves and protects equally all of our citizens,” White said.
White said his message to people who feel hurt by the verdict not to convict officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine of murder or manslaughter for Ellis’ death was that justice will prevail. Throughout the press conference, he both said the body of faith leaders looked forward to working closely with law enforcement and that they wanted police officers working in Tacoma to be held accountable for their actions.
“We believe that no matter what someone is allowed to do in this realm, they will have to answer at some point in time,” White said.
Justice, White said, would be for the acquitted officers to be fired. He said he looked forward to the report of the city’s internal investigation into the actions of the three officers. City Manager Elizabeth Pauli said in a news conference Thursday that Police Chief Avery Moore would make a decision on any discipline for the officers, including the possibility of termination, within 14 days.
Speaking on the verdict, White said he thought the jury did the best it could with what it was given, but that it was a “travesty” that the judge presiding over the trial was allowed to exclude information that he said he believed would have been vital for them to reach a sound decision.
“Our frustration is how the system allowed itself to play out,” White said.
Judge Bryan Chushcoff said Thursday that he thought his rulings on what information was allowed into the 10-week trial had been neutral. Prosecutors and defense attorneys in criminal cases often argue before a trial begins over the scope of the evidence.
Prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office sought to exclude information about Ellis’ past arrests and drug use, but the defense was allowed to dig into both. Attorneys for the officers called witnesses to Ellis’ 2019 arrest for the attempted robbery of a fast-food restaurant on Pacific Avenue and a 2015 arrest related to a domestic-violence incident. Both involved confrontations with police and methamphetamine intoxication.
Prosecutors were not allowed to similarly dig into the officers’ pasts. As the Seattle Times reported, Chushcoff excluded evidence about internal investigations of Burbank at a previous police job for use of force. The judge also excluded testimony regarding Rankine having a “mental break” during a police academy exercise focused on appropriate uses of force.
White said he heard just one of the officers on trial make a statement — Collins and Rankine testified — and he didn’t feel that the officer had any remorse for the situation and Ellis’ family. It’s unclear which officer White was referring to.
For other police officers working in Tacoma, White said he wanted them to know that in no way will the faith leaders standing with him indict “a full body of servant leaders” because of the actions of a few officers.
“We want them to understand clearly that we’re committed to working with them, beside them,” White said. “But in that process of working with them and beside them, we will hold them accountable as well for what’s right as we go forward.”
The body of faith leaders was pleased with the city hiring Moore as its police chief in 2022, White said, and with improvements in training officers. He said they were also grateful for the passage of Initiative 940, which he said strengthened the accountability of officers that serve. The law was adopted in Washington state in 2019, and it lowered the bar to charge police officers for on-duty offenses.
White called on young people in Tacoma to continue to make their voices heard, particularly in voting. And he commended them for the lack of destruction and violence since the jury’s verdict.
Mike Yoder, executive director of Associated Ministries, spoke after White took questions from reporters. Yoder acknowledged that the community has a lot of healing to do as a result of the verdict, but he said his prayer is that the healing is done peacefully. He said Mayor Victoria Woodards had released a powerful statement Thursday evening when she said she was heartened by Tacoma’s longstanding practices of showing up actively and peacefully.
Last Sunday, Yoder said, he had been in the same spot while in the middle of a prayer vigil for peace, and he felt a ray of hope for how this “terrible chapter” might turn out. He said he now feels compelled to be even more active in addressing injustice and bringing about change so that Tacoma may never have another trial like this again.
