Washington state review of Tacoma police Manuel Ellis homicide is the right call
Anger over the death of Manuel Ellis while under Tacoma police restraint continues to be a dynamic force, both among those who loved him and those who never met him. It poured out in compelling displays this weekend, from the streets of Tacoma to the walkway of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
This backlash to the killing of the 33-year-old old black man won’t subside until answers are provided and accountability follows.
The Tacoma City Council, Mayor Victoria Woodards and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee are right to call for an independent review of Ellis’ homicide — overseen by state investigators, at arm’s length from Pierce County law-and-order agencies.
They’re also right to ask for a sense of urgency. Ellis’ family, stuck in limbo since he died in respiratory distress March 3, deserves no less.
In Minnesota, the state attorney general is taking the lead in all prosecutions related to the case of George Floyd, brutally choked to death March 25 under the knee of a Minneapolis cop.
In Kentucky, the attorney general is reviewing the death of Breonna Taylor, killed in a hail of police bullets while the 26-year-old ER technician stood in her Louisville apartment hallway on March 13.
Likewise, it makes sense that Inslee would claim a state oversight role and ask Washington authorities to help illuminate the murky details of Ellis’ death.
Inslee said Friday that the Washington State Patrol will review the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department investigation, once it’s complete, and the state Attorney General will review the Pierce County Prosecutor’s determination of justifiable or criminal homicide, once it’s issued.
Hometown angst about “Monday morning quarterbacking” has already begun. While we’re generally supportive of local control, a case like this is too important to be tainted by complaints — real or perceived — about local agencies being too cozy with one another.
Woodards’ own trust in local law enforcement’s ability to police itself has clearly been shaken. The mayor’s tone shifted quickly last week after she saw an amateur cellphone video clip that shows two officers violently taking Ellis to the ground.
“We don’t have all the answers today,” Woodards said at a press conference Wednesday, before the video surfaced. “The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an independent investigation. And we have worked hard to protect the integrity of that investigation.”
The video changed everything. On Thursday, the mayor gave an emotional address asking for the officers to be fired and prosecuted, even before the sheriff’s probe is finished. By Friday, she had moderated her tone (slightly) and asked the governor for a state review.
Reasonable people can debate whether Woodards acted appropriately. Some, including the Tacoma police union, say it was an irresponsible use of her power — that officers who put their lives on the line every day can’t have a mayor who undercuts their right to due process..
Others say Woodards was simply speaking out as a black woman — “I don’t get to take this skin color off every day,” she said Thursday — and that her bully pulpit serves to amplify the community’s legitimate cries for racial justice.
In the end, it’s important to remember that Woodards is an elected mayor in a city-manager form of government. That means her clout is limited. City Manager Elizabeth Pauli, who answers to the whole City Council, made that clear Friday; Pauli promised a fair and full investigation but stopped short of saying officers would be fired and prosecuted.
In the end, what matters is that the Ellis homicide investigation runs its course, and that the final reckoning comes via state-level review. This will ensure it’s uncolored by the symbiotic relationships between local police officers, sheriff’s deputies and prosecuting attorneys, who rely on each other for mutual aid responses, courtroom testimony and the like.
Inslee also pledged to come back soon with a proposed framework for future deadly-use-of-force investigations. That would be consistent with Initiative 940, passed by Washington voters in 2018. It deserves a close look by legislators.
Social-justice activists may still wind up disappointed; it may take years to get the outcomes they seek, if they get them at all. (See also: Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Stephon Clark, etc.)
Perhaps it’s best to look at higher-level scrutiny as one of many half-measures that must be made on the road to racial equity. In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the character Miss Maudie put it this way after Atticus Finch gave a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful defense of Tom Robinson, an innocent black man:
“Well, we’re making a step,” she said. “It’s just a baby step, but it’s a step.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 8:00 AM.