3 Tacoma police to stay on city payroll despite being charged with killing Manuel Ellis

Three Tacoma police officers recently charged in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis will remain on the city payroll while an internal investigation plays out.

Tacoma city manager Elizabeth Pauli said in a media briefing Tuesday with Mayor Victoria Woodards and interim police chief Mike Ake that the three officers remain on paid administrative leave.

“As we continue to get new information, we will keep review of their employment and leave status, one of the thing that’s subject to review,” Pauli said. “So for the time being, that is their status, and we will continue to review that as we get more information.”

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office charged 38-year-old Matthew J. Collins and 35-year-old Christopher Shane Burbank with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in Ellis’ death. Timothy Eugene Rankine, 32, was charged with first-degree manslaughter. The three officers pleaded not guilty when they appeared in Superior Court on Friday. They bailed out of jail later that day.

An internal investigation into whether the officers violated departmental policy was launched shortly after the charges were announced Thursday. The outcome of the investigation will determine their employment status and whether there needs to be disciplinary actions. Pauli said Tuesday there’s no estimate as to how long it will take. The city is awaiting records from the Washington State Patrol.

The internal investigation will include officers Armando Farinas and Masyih Ford, who also responded to the scene the night of Ellis’ death. They are on paid administrative leave. The Attorney General’s Office did not file charges against Farinas or Ford.

Pauli added the city would provide weekly updates to the public during council meetings as to the status of the investigation.

When pressed by reporters as to why the city will keep the officers employed, Woodards said she did not want to violate due process rights. She referenced a situation in which an Atlanta officer was fired for killing a Black man and then reinstated in May when the city’s Civil Service Board determined the officer’s due process rights had been violated.

“What we’ve seen with the reinstatement of the Atlanta officer, and the consequences for not following due process — I don’t want that to happen here in Tacoma,” Woodards said. “So I’m supporting our administrative leaders to carry out their internal investigation to make sure the due process happens so that any decisions that are raised will be sustainable.”

Woodards said she stands by her declaration last year in which she demanded Pauli fire the officers involved in Ellis’ death, explaining that that was her feeling at the time with what she knew.

“No, I do not walk my statement back,” Woodards said.

Pauli said the city wants to be careful in handling the internal investigation.

“We’re focusing on making sure that our process complies with the existing laws, and that the disciplinary actions that we take are in alignment with what we established during our investigation and can be sustained and not challenged from a legal perspective,” she said.

Ake also said due process was important.

“When (we) go through this process, I think not just myself but everybody in this department, and everybody in the community, expects this process to be full and transparent, and everyone agrees that there’s a due process that’s respected and followed,” he said.

When asked about the morale of the department, Ake said: “We have a wide range of varied emotions going through our department, as one would expect.”

Ake said he hasn’t talked to the charged officers since the day of their arraignment.

Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died March 3, 2020 at 96th Street South and Ainsworth Avenue as police restrained him. Video showed him saying: “Can’t breathe, sir, can’t breathe.” He died from lack of oxygen, and his death was ruled a homicide.

Tacoma City Council members expressed frustration that the investigation process has taken so long but echoed that they want to see more information before determining whether or not the officers need to be fired or receive disciplinary actions.

When asked if he thinks the officers should remain employed, Council member Robert Thoms told The News Tribune that it was hard to make a judgment call without all the supporting information, including the reports from the Washington State Patrol the city has requested.

“I’m disappointed that I don’t have that at this particular point ... We are asking for it,” Thoms said.

Thoms said he wanted to continue the city’s transformation process, keying in on things like qualified immunity, what constitutes as paid administrative leave and the police department’s use of force policy.

“It’s clear from this particular case that reforms are needed sooner rather than later,” he said.

Council member Conor McCarthy reiterated Tuesday his comments from last week’s special council meeting that “the administrative process needs to happen as swiftly as possible.” He also spoke about his frustration at the length of the process.

On Friday, council member Catherine Ushka responded to claims that council didn’t speak much to the case, saying it’s difficult to talk about an independent investigation they were kept in the dark on.

She shared her frustration that there’s still more the city has to go through with its internal investigation, but added that if the city pressed forward without it, “justice could be missed altogether.”

Ushka said that her heart goes out to the Ellis family and that there’s more work for the city to do.

“I was relieved there was finally a conclusion to that portion of the investigation, but I’m immediately looking for what’s next,” she said of the charges announced last week.

Council member Kristina Walker said Tuesday the process should not have taken this long.

“We’ll be watching carefully and closely and hope there will be movement quickly,” Walker said.

This story was originally published in The News Tribune.

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