SEATTLE In a year of reckoning for police accountability, three Tacoma police officers face criminal charges in the March 2020 killing of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man whose death sparked widespread protests and calls for justice.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who took over the case from
Manuel Ellis: Three officers charged in killing of man who said ‘I can’t breathe’ before dying in police custody Graig Graziosi
Three Tacomapolice officers have been charged in the March 2020 killing of Manuel Ellis.
Mr Ellis, 33, was a Black man who police restrained as he was walking home from a corner store last year. He died in their custody.
The Seattle Times reported that Mr Ellis death was ruled a homicide by the Pierce County Medical Examiner, who found evidence of oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint as the primary cause of death.
The officers charged in connection with Mr Ellis s death are Officers Matthew Collins, 38, Christopher Burbank, 35, and Timothy Rankine.