Three Washington state police officers were found not guilty of all criminal charges in the fatal arrest of Manuel Ellis — a Black man who was walking home in 2020 when deputies confronted him before being pinned down and brutalized as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”
The more than two-month trial ended Dec. 21 as the jury acquitted Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 34 — all of whom are white — on multiple charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter after defense attorneys argued that Ellis died from methamphetamine ingestion combined with the effects of an enlarged heart.
The courtroom exhaled audibly as the first verdict was read, while the defendants reacted emotionally, with Rankine wiping his eyes and Collins embracing his lawyer.
However, the verdicts left the Ellis family and Tacoma’s Black community feeling devastated.
“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,” said Ellis family lawyer Matthew Ericksen, according to The Associated Press. “The defense attorneys were allowed to dredge up Manny’s past and repeat to the jury again and again Manny’s prior arrests in 2015 and 2019. That unfairly prejudiced jurors against Manny.”
On March 3, 2020, the 33-year-old Ellis was walking home with doughnuts from a 7-Eleven store when he passed a red light where Collins and Burbank were stopped in their patrol car.
The officers claimed they observed Ellis trying to open the door of another car at the intersection and emerged from their unit to confront him, saying Ellis turned aggressive immediately, which led to a struggle on the sidewalk.
During testimony, Collins described Ellis as having “superhuman strength,” claiming the man picked him up and threw him during the scuffle.
However, three witnesses refuted this account, saying Ellis approached the squad car…
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