- Oct 2, 2004
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The 3 officers cleared in Manuel Ellis' death will each receive $500,000 to leave Tacoma police
Three Washington state police officers who were cleared of all criminal charges last month in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis will each receive $500,000 to leave the Tacoma Police Department.
apnews.com
'Three Washington state police officers who were cleared of criminal charges in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis — a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath — will each receive $500,000 to leave the Tacoma Police Department, according to documents released Tuesday...
...In an email, Matthew Ericksen, an attorney for Ellis’ family, called it “perverse” and said the officers were “effectively being rewarded” for his death. He noted that the officers had already been paid about $1.5 million total while being on leave for nearly four years...
...Ellis, 33, was walking home with doughnuts from a 7-Eleven in Tacoma, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, when he passed a patrol car stopped at a red light, with Collins and Burbank inside.
The officers claimed they saw Ellis try to open the door of a passing car at the intersection and he became aggressive when they tried to question him about it. Collins testified that Ellis demonstrated “superhuman strength” by lifting Collins off the ground and throwing him through the air.
But three witnesses testified they saw no such thing. After what appeared to be a brief conversation between Ellis and the officers, who are both white, Burbank, in the passenger seat, threw open his door, knocking Ellis down, they said.
The witnesses — one of whom yelled for the officers to stop attacking Ellis — and a doorbell surveillance camera captured video of parts of the encounter. The video showed Ellis with his hands up in a surrender position as Burbank shot a Taser at his chest and Collins wrapped an arm around his neck from behind.
Rankine was among the many other officers who responded. Ellis was already handcuffed facedown when he arrived. Rankine knelt on his upper back.
Video showed Ellis addressing the officers as “sir” while telling them he couldn’t breathe. One officer is heard responding, “Shut the (expletive) up, man.”
Attorneys for the officers argued that Ellis died from a lethal amount of methamphetamine that was in his system as well as a heart condition, not from the officers’ actions.
Ellis’ death became a touchstone for racial justice demonstrators in the Pacific Northwest. But it also coincided with the first U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 at a nursing home in nearby Kirkland and did not garner the attention that the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis did nearly three months later.'
Wow. This is one of the most egregious outcomes of officers being tried for murder, with all the evidence and witnesses provided at the trial. I can't believe they weren't convicted of even the manslaughter, and furthermore in a city like Tacoma. Just shows that there are bad apples everywhere, waiting to get off the hook for murder.
Now they're getting sizable chunks of money to go to another town or city that will hire them. Being paid for murder. Just...wow.
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