Manuel Ellis' Family Reacts to Acquittal of Police Officers

A jury on Thursday found three Tacoma, Washington, police officers not guilty of all charges in the 2020 death of Manuel "Manny" Ellis, a Black man who died in their custody.

Reuters reported that the mixed reaction in the courtroom included "audible sighs of relief and sobbing," while a livestream of the hearing "showed members of the Ellis family abruptly walking out of the courtroom."

Seattle's KOMO-TV, a station affiliated with ABC and The CW, reported that Ellis' sister, Monét Carter-Mixon, joined protesters in the street who were yelling "no justice, no peace" over a microphone. The protest closed down an intersection in Tacoma that KOMO-TV reported was adjacent to a mural of Ellis.

The trial lasted for three months before Tacoma police officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankine were found not guilty of all charges. Burbank and Collins, who are both white, had been charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Rankine, who is Asian American, had been charged with first-degree manslaughter.

The three officers were accused of unlawfully using deadly force on Ellis, 33, when they attempted to arrest him in March 2020. The incident later drew comparisons to the police killing of George Floyd that occurred around three months later and sparked social justice protests across the nation.

Like Floyd, Ellis had complained to officers that he couldn't breathe during his final moments.

Police said Ellis had attempted to open "car doors of occupied vehicles," then struck the window of their cruiser before getting physical with the officers. Witnesses on the scene disputed the officers' account.

Prosecutors said the officers choked and used a Taser on Ellis, as well as hogtied him and placed a spit hood over his head. Ellis died soon afterward at the scene while receiving medical aid from paramedics.

Defense lawyers argued Ellis had fought back against the officers aggressively. They also said he died because he had a heart irregularity and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death.

James Bible, attorney representing the Ellis family, called the verdict "devastating" in comments made to KING-TV, an NBC-affiliated station in Seattle.

Bible added that he felt Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff had "tilted the balance of justice with his thumb ... in such a way that a fair trial was not held in this circumstance," and he said the family will "be seeking some action from the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Newsweek reached out to Bible's office via email on Thursday night for further comment.