Tacoma may pay $600K to ex-cop who said city defamed him after Manny Ellis’ death
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tacoma considering $600K settlement to ex-officer Timothy Rankine over defamation claims
- Rankine and wife filed $47M claims citing false accusations and reputational harm
- Settlement follows acquittal and prior $500K resignation payout to each charged officer
Update, Sept. 2: The Tacoma City Council approved the $600,000 payment to Timothy Rankine and his wife during its Aug. 19 meeting. It passed with no dissenting votes. Mayor Victoria Woodards, Deputy Mayor Kiara Daniels and Council Member Sandesh Sadalge were absent.
Original story: A former Tacoma police officer acquitted in the police-custody death of Manuel Ellis is likely set to receive a $600,000 settlement from the City of Tacoma after he and his wife claimed false statements by city officials in the wake of Ellis’ death destroyed his reputation.
Tacoma City Council will vote Tuesday evening on whether to authorize the settlement of claims brought by Timothy Rankine and Katherine Chinn, a copy of the council’s agenda shows.
Rankine, 36, was one of three officers tried by the state Attorney General’s Office for the March 3, 2020, death of Ellis. Days after Ellis’ death was ruled a homicide of oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards called for the four officers involved in restraining Ellis to be fired and prosecuted.
Rankine, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins weren’t fired, and they remained on paid administrative leave throughout an investigation that led former Attorney General Bob Ferguson to charge Rankine with first-degree manslaughter and his fellow officers with second-degree murder, and throughout the months-long trial that followed. The fourth officer Woodards referred to, Masyih Ford, was not charged, nor was a fifth officer later identified as being involved, Armando Farinas.
All three charged officers were found not guilty at trial in December 2023, and Tacoma subsequently paid them each $500,000 to resign. In spring 2024, Rankine and Chinn filed claims with Tacoma, Ferguson, his staff and contractors asserting they were owed a total $47 million in damages.
A copy of the damages form said elected officials and employees of Tacoma had falsely accused Rankine of racially-biased policing and criminal misconduct, which incited hatred, threats and violence against Rankine and his family. The former police officer said that discrimination and defamation had caused him economic losses, and that his ability to work had been destroyed.
In a phone call Monday, Joan Mell, an attorney for Rankine and Chinn, referred to the value of Rankine’s employment with the city when asked about what the pending settlement means for her clients.
“The mayor and the Rankines worked together cooperatively to achieve more closely what approximates the value of his position that he was forced to give up,” Mell said.
Mell declined to answer further questions before City Council votes on authorizing the settlement.
A Tacoma city spokesperson declined to comment, stating that the city does not comment on litigation.
The status of Rankine’s claims against Ferguson, who is now governor, and his staff is unclear. The offices of the governor and the attorney general did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
The pending settlement would add to a number of large settlements made over Ellis’ death. Lawsuits brought by Ellis’ family against Tacoma and Pierce County led to payments of $6 million and $4 million, respectively.
Rankine was the most junior of the three officers charged in Ellis’ death. He arrived as backup after Ellis reportedly punched the window of a patrol car occupied by Burbank and Collins, which led to a struggle in which Ellis was beaten, shocked with a Taser three times and pressed to the ground on his stomach, where his limbs were tied behind his back.
At trial, Rankine testified that he got on top of Ellis as Burbank was bucked off. He said he eventually put his knees on Ellis’ back to control him while the man thrashed on the ground. Rankine also testified that he twice put Ellis on his side so he could breathe better.
Ellis repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” and Rankine said he told the man “If you can talk to me, you can still breathe.”
After the officers were acquitted and Rankine and Chinn filed their claims, Mell told The News Tribune that all of the officers were having trouble finding jobs. Burbank was briefly hired by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, but he resigned in response to community outrage that Sheriff Derek Sanders said involved death threats to Burbank’s family.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
