Black man killed by cops "created his own death" argues the defense
Three cops await verdicts
Three police officers are in court for the murder and manslaughter of Manuel Ellis (33). The trial is almost complete. Their fate is now in the hands of the jury. During summations, the prosecutors laid out their case for conviction with evidence of lies, excessive force, and behavior bordering on sociopathic. In response, defense attorneys blamed the victim for his own death.
The Washington Post reports:
“Attorneys for three Washington state police officers on trial in the 2020 death of a Black man argued Tuesday that Manuel Ellis died because of drug use and not excessive force, claiming that he “created his own death” in an incident that involved police choking, using a Taser and holding him facedown to the ground in handcuffs.”
The question the jurors have to address is whether a victim’s drug addiction is a legal defense against murder/manslaughter charges — regardless of how reckless, callous, and indifferent the action of arresting officers was in detaining a citizen. Or whether excessive force is inexcusable and illegal regardless of the victim’s medical condition.
Can the police blithely ignore the pleas of a man who says he is dying? Or does law enforcement have carte blanche to disregard the panic of a terrified detainee?
In the case of George Floyd, another Black man who died in police custody, a Minnesota jury thought that cops did have a line when they convicted Derek Chauvin, Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao for murder/aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Will the Washington jury decide likewise? Or will they grant police wide latitude to execute their duties, regardless of who gets hurt?
The killing of Manuel Ellis
On March 3, 2020, Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died while lying handcuffed, hogtied, and wearing a spit hood on a Tacoma, WA street, surrounded by law enforcement. The police had tasered him multiple times. No one disputes those facts.
Ellis, who had recently returned from church, was walking to a convenience store for a late-night snack: powdered, raspberry-filled donuts. Two Tacoma police officers, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, claimed they stopped Ellis after they saw him trying to get into occupied cars at a red light. They further claimed that Ellis had attacked them in their car — and continued to do so as they tried to arrest him. Eyewitness accounts and several videos do not support their version of events.
A probable cause statement at the time indicated that “Ellis was not fighting back.” And that, “All three civilian witnesses at the intersection ... state that they never saw Ellis strike at the officers.” The statement added that the witnesses reported that an officer on the passenger side of a patrol car slammed his door into Ellis, knocking him down, and then jumped on him and started beating him.
The report stated the witnesses “described seeing a casual interaction between the officers and Ellis before Burbank struck Ellis with his car door — there was no sudden, random attack by Ellis as the officers described that night to others.”
Videos recorded by the witnesses corroborated that Ellis did not attempt to strike the officers, though he resisted their efforts to restrain him. It is likely his resistance was due to panic, as the cops were asphyxiating him.
Witnesses said that Ellis had repeatedly told officers he could not breathe. A home security camera captured Ellis’s last words, “I can’t breathe, sir!” And a cop’s response, “Shut the fuck up, man.”
After an autopsy, the Pierce County medical examiner called Ellis’ death a homicide and attributed it to lack of oxygen from being restrained, with an enlarged heart and methamphetamine intoxication as contributing factors.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department and the Tacoma PD investigated the death. A Sheriff Dept. spokesperson, Ed Troyer, denied that the officers used chokeholds and dismissed any similarities between Ellis’ death and Floyd’s in Minneapolis. “There were no knees on heads,” he wrote. Videos show Troyer is a liar. Not that his mendacity hurt his career. He is now the Pierce County Sheriff.
After three months, the Washington State Police conducted a real investigation. After this, the authorities charged Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins with 2nd-degree murder and 1st-degree manslaughter. They also charged a third cop, Timothy Rankine, who had put his knee on Ellis’ back, with 1st-degree manslaughter.
Conclusion
There was a time in America when cops could seemingly get away with anything — especially if the victim was Black. The near ubiquity of phone cameras, as well as recording devices on homes and businesses, has stemmed the tide of wanton violence.
Hopefully, this jury will keep the ball moving forward. Americans need to trust their cops. Unfortunately, cops covering up for their own makes that goal more remote. A conviction here will send a message that obfuscating official criminal behavior and condoning sadism is no longer so easy.
Will cops get the message? Or will more innocent Americans — or Americans who have committed minor crimes — suffer at the hands of those who are supposed to ‘serve and protect?’