Ellis autopsy results sat on a desk too long. Pierce County must answer for it

What took so long?

To be more specific, why did it take three weeks for Pierce County to disclose the autopsy findings of Manuel Ellis — findings that concluded the 33-year-old black man died of homicide while under restraint by Tacoma police officers?

That’s one of the bothersome questions in a nationally watched death investigation still riddled with mystery, 14 weeks after Ellis fought for his last breaths at a dark South Tacoma street corner.

The answer certainly won’t sit well with elected leaders, community activists or Ellis’ own family members. They didn’t learn of the homicide determination until the first few days of June, though the report was completed May 11.

It might’ve taken even longer, had News Tribune crime reporter Stacia Glenn not asked Pierce County officials for an update on Ellis’ case. She was doing routine reporting as part of the TNT’s coverage of protests related to George Floyd and local black men killed at the hands of police.

Delays are customary at the Medical Examiner’s Office, but that doesn’t make them acceptable. The Ellis case underscores the need for reforms by the newly hired chief medical examiner, Dr. Karen Cline.

There’s much work to do in an ME’s office that was embarrassed by dysfunction, whistleblower complaints and six-figure legal settlements under Cline’s predecessor, Dr. Thomas Clark.

Cline has plenty of resources to do that work. The County Council voted last month to fund six new positions, for a total of 24 full-time ME employees, as part of a $727,000 budget add-on.

She should start with a thorough dissection of how the office could have better handled the Ellis case.

Bottom line: ME officials should do early and full disclosure any time they determine public safety officers are involved in a homicide. Maybe that’s not how they did it in the pre-George Floyd world, but it needs to be standard operating procedure now.

Granted, a homicide ruling in this early fact-finding stage isn’t the same as murder. But it’s clearly a big deal, since it led to the four officers at the scene of Ellis’ March 4 death being suspended from duty last week. And it set off a chain reaction including the revelation of a citizen cellphone video and Mayor Victoria Woodards’ calling for the officers to be fired.

Releasing the autopsy findings weeks earlier, rather than in the midst of a national uproar over racism and police use-of-force, also would’ve spared the county from terrible timing.

Part of the reason for the delay centers on medical examiner norms and practices. Typically the local ME’s office doesn’t release autopsy results unless individuals know enough to request them in advance. Usually the reports don’t come to light until weeks later, when the Pierce County prosecutor makes a ruling of justifiable or criminal homicide.

But “typically” and “usually” shouldn’t apply when the person lying on the autopsy table may be the victim of police brutality.

Another reason for the delay: a backlog of work in state and local labs. A drug screening was ordered for Ellis’ autopsy, and it took the state toxicology lab weeks to deliver, according to the county’s response to our Editorial Board’s questions.

We recognize that an autopsy takes time — in this case, nearly 10 weeks — partly due to factors outside county control. We also understand some bureaucratic grind is inevitable.

But eight days passed (May 11-19) between the doctor’s completion and Clark’s official signature on the Ellis autopsy report.

Then nearly two more weeks went by (May 19 to June 1) before it was delivered to the county sheriff and prosecutor. The cause? “Inadequate staffing compounded by an antiquated case management system,” a county spokeswoman told us via email.

“The Medical Examiner’s Office has not been properly staffed for several years,” she said. “Thankfully, the Council recently supported the Executive’s proposal to increase funding for more staff. As I’m sure you can understand, Dr. Cline has not yet been able to fill the positions.”

Starting this week, the ME is tracking the interval from the date a doctor signs an autopsy report to the date it’s released to requestors. The goal is two to three days.

That’s better than the current estimate of five business days — and far better than the frustrating lag time in the homicide of Manuel Ellis.

Welcome to Pierce County, Dr. Cline. Please use your generous budget increase wisely. Please don’t waste time turning around the struggling medical examiner’s office. And please don’t leave the families of dead black men — or anyone, for that matter — asking: What took so long?

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 11:00 AM.