3 officers acquitted in death of Black man who said he couldn’t breathe

A jury in Washington state acquitted three police officers of all criminal charges in the March 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who was shocked, beaten, restrained and said he could not breathe.

The Washington state attorney general’s office announced in May 2021 that it charged two Tacoma Police officers, Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, with second-degree murder, and a third officer, Timothy Rankine, with first-degree manslaughter.

The officers’ attorneys argued Ellis died of methamphetamine in his system and a preexisting heart condition and not their actions, The Associated Press reported. The jury found all three not guilty on all counts Thursday.

The Ellis family lawyer told the AP the verdict was devastating for his family, arguing defense attorneys unfairly prejudiced the jury against Ellis by bringing up his prior arrests.

“The biggest reason why I personally think this jury found reasonable doubt is because the defense was essentially allowed to put Manny Ellis on trial,” Matthew Ericksen told the AP in an email.

When it handed down charges to the officers, the state attorney general’s office said it was the first time officers had been charged with unlawfully using deadly force.

Ellis was restrained, shocked with a stun gun and had a spit mask placed on his head. Before his death, police claimed Ellis harassed a woman and hit her car windows and then banged on a patrol car and attacked two officers who called for backup.

A medical examiner ruled Ellis’s cause of death respiratory arrest due to hypoxia caused by physical restraint.

Ellis was walking home from a 7-Eleven on the night of March 3, 2020, when officers claimed they saw him trying to open the door of a passing car at an intersection and became aggressive when they questioned him about it.

Collins told the court Ellis had “superhuman strength” and lifted him off the ground and threw him through the air. Witnesses said Ellis did not do anything that would provoke the officers, the AP reported.

Burbank swung open his car door and knocked Ellis down, witnesses said. Doorbell surveillance video showed Ellis with his hands up in surrender as Burbank fired a Taser into his chest and Colins wrapped his arm around his neck.

Rankine, who pressed his knees into Ellis’s back, said during trial that he thought if Ellis could talk, he could breathe.

The case drew attention and scrutiny after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer two months later, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality, racism and violence against Black men.