TACOMA, Wash. — 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.
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(Stacia Glenn contributed to this report.)
