The sister of a black man killed in police custody after he was heard telling them ‘I can’t breathe’, wants the police officers involved to get the death penalty.
Cops in Washington state claimed that Manuel ‘Manny’ Ellis – a father-of-two – was harassing a woman in her car in March and when they confronted him he slammed an officer to the ground.
But Marcia Carter, Ellis’ mother, and his sister Monet Mixon said police still haven’t told them anything about how their confrontation became so violent and believe they’re trying to cover up another unjust killing of an African American.
‘So we didn’t get a video until Friday. I knew from the day that I was told that my brother was killed in police custody… that they were lying and that it was a cover-up,’ Mixon told CNN on Tuesday morning. ‘Because I know my brother.’
Manuel Ellis’ sister Monet (right) wants the death penalty for the cops involved in her brother’s death in March. She is pictured with her mother Marcia Carter on Tuesday morning
Ellis was heard in a recording of police radio yelling ‘I can’t breathe’ as the Tacoma Police officers restrained and handcuffed him
Mixon said Ellis wouldn’t have been combative with police because the family was taught their whole lives not disrespect authoritative figures.
Ellis’ fatal confrontation with cops came after countless incidents of police brutality against unarmed black Americans, including Eric Garner who died in a choke hold at the hands of New York police in 201, and the 1991 beating of Rodney King in LA.
‘You have to respect especially law enforcement because of what they can potentially do to you,’ Mixon explained to New Day With Alisyn Camerota and John Berman. ‘So we have known this our whole lives. He would teach it to my kids.’
Ellis’ mother said there has been a lot of crying in the past couple of weeks following the death of George Floyd at the hands of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Floyd, like Eric Garner before him, cried ‘I can’t breathe’ before dying in the custody of law enforcement. Cops are seen throwing punches at Ellis, who is on the ground and kicking at them.
The video only emerged after Mixon started reaching out to certain people but the mother said she too ‘knew from the beginning’ that her son did not hit a police officer.
Video of the beating only came out last week after Ellis’ sister made some calls for evidence
But his family said they knew he hadn’t attacked police and Marcia Carter said: ‘I think my son was just picked out personally’. Family lawyer James Bible (inset bottom left) told CNN that more evidence is yet to emerge that adds to the many discrepancies in the story already
‘My son talked to me that night for 15 minutes. His mind was on the lord and making his life and his path in a straight and narrow way,’ Marcia Carter said.
‘So I think my son was just picked out personally. That’s what I feel.’
Before the video emerged, Ellis’ friend also said he had a video call with the drummer after he’d finished performing with the church band. The friend said Ellis was excited about the future.
In a video released June 5, a witness filming the incident is heard yelling at cops to stop hitting him. ‘Oh, my god, that was so scary,’ she says as Ellis is thrown to the ground. ‘Just arrest him. Please stop hitting him.’
Family lawyer James Bible told CNN that more evidence is yet to emerge that adds to the many discrepancies in the story already.
‘What I can tell you is that the police department’s narrative is ever shifting and ever changing based on additional information that we have been forwarded,’ Mr Bible said. ‘I think it’s critical to note that this independent witness actually was in a place where she saw the initial interaction and she says that Manuel Ellis wasn’t doing anything wrong.
‘He hadn’t assaulted an officer, hadn’t done anything wrong and he got first smashed by a police officer door, thrown to the ground and beaten.’
Manny Ellis’ last words ‘I can’t breathe’, is ‘a repeated theme from New York to Minnesota to Texas and now Washington’ the family lawyer said
Masyih Ford (left) and Timothy Rankine (right), are two of the four officers involved. They were not wearing body cameras. The four officers were initially placed on paid leave, but returned to the force, then were placed on administrative leave again Wednesday
He added about Manny Ellis’ last words ‘I can’t breathe’: ‘It’s a repeated theme from New York to Minnesota to Texas and now Washington. We are actively investigating this matter and asking for a fully independent investigation to be led by the state.’
Bible said it’s ‘deeply disappointing’ that the Pierce County’s Sheriff’s Office is investigating this case as they’re too linked to the Tacoma Police Department.
Bible said Pierce County has claimed since March that there’s ‘nothing to see here’ however ‘as we present more evidence, they change their story’.
‘Ultimately, where we are now is something that totally undoes what they have initially said and what they continue to say,’ Bible added about the video evidence that followed a police audio capturing Ellis’s last words.
Officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins, Masyih Ford and Timothy Rankine were at the scene.
Burbank, 34, and Collins, 37, are white and have been on the force four and a half years, and five years, respectively.
Ford, 28, is black and Rankine, 31, is Asian. They have been on the force two years and two months, and one year and 10 months respectively.
The police officers were initially put on administrative leave but returned to work. They were put on leave again after the video emerged but they’re not charged, and have not been fired.
Mixon, wants the officers involved in her brother’s death to face the death penalty.
‘They need to go to jail, they need to be charged to the fullest extent of the law,’ Mixon said. ‘Me personally I would like them to receive the death penalty because they carelessly took my brother’s life. ‘They took my brother from me and so for that they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.’
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards announces Thursday that she wants to fire the police officers involved in the fatal police arrest after a witness video emerged showing the 33-year-old black man being aggressively beaten and restrained
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards previously called for the firing of the four cops involved. She wanted a full investigation by the Pierce County Sheriff after the video was posted on Twitter by the Tacoma Action Collective, a racial justice group.
The March 3 death of Ellis – father to an 11-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter – was ruled a homicide by the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office. On Wednesday, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Ellis died of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia due to physical restraint. Hypoxia describes how not enough oxygen can reach the lungs.
Contributing factors included methamphetamine intoxication and dilated cardiomyopathy, commonly known as an enlarged heart, the Medical Examiner said.
Cops initially said they believed Ellis died from excited delirium which can result in overwhelming strength, an overheated body and attempts at violence.
The findings came back on May 11. It’s unclear why they were not announced until June 3. The announcement of the Ellis’ death by homicide came as Americans across all 50 states were marching in protest of police brutality against African Americans and racial inequality. The officers involved were not wearing their bodycams.
The mayor said she would tell the city manager ‘to move forward for allocating funding for body cams immediately.’
‘We have waited way too long,’ she said.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and lit candles is pictured in memory of killed Manny Ellis