U.S. Attorney’s Office will review Manuel Ellis case after Tacoma officers acquitted
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Washington is independently reviewing the state’s criminal case against three Tacoma police officers acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, the office said Friday.
“If that review reveals violations of federal criminal statutes, the Justice Department will take appropriate action,” U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Emily Langlie said in a statement sent to The News Tribune.
The brief statement did not provide any other details except to reveal an independent review, which was first reported by the Seattle Times, and it was not immediately clear how long such a review could take. The Times noted that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Spokane filed federal civil rights charges in 2006 against an officer in the death of Otto Zehm.
Langlie declined to comment on whether anything specifically prompted the involvement of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is now taking a look at evidence presented in court and amassed by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine were found not guilty by a jury on Dec. 21 of all charges in connection to the death of Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man whose last words were, “I can’t breathe.”
Collins and Burbank had been accused of second-degree murder and all three officers had faced first-degree manslaughter charges, which were announced by the state Attorney General’s Office in May 2021.
The Tacoma Police Department resumed its Internal Affairs investigation into the officers’ conduct after testimony in the 10-week trial concluded. An announcement on whether the officers will face any discipline, including termination, is expected Tuesday.
This story was originally published January 12, 2024 at 1:44 PM.
