The mayor of Tacoma has called for firing the police officers involved in the fatal police arrest of Manuel Ellis, after a witness video emerged Thursday showing the 33-year-old black man being aggressively beaten and restrained.
Mayor Victoria Wooodards called for a full investigation by the Pierce County Sheriff after the video was posted on Twitter by the Tacoma Action Collective, a racial justice group.
Ellis, 33, – father to an 11-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter – died on March 3 when he was arrested by Tacoma Police Department officers for allegedly harassing women.
Previously, Ellis had only been heard in a recording of police radio yelling ‘I can’t breathe,’ during the arrest.
His death was ruled a homicide by the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office, which announced the results of its examination earlier this week.
The video emerged less than two weeks after George Floyd died in a similar slaying in Minneapolis, sparking protests across the US.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Wooodards announces Thursday that she wants to fire the police officers involved in the fatal police arrest of Manuel Ellis fired after a witness video emerged showing the 33-year-old black man being aggressively beaten and restrained
Officers are pictured in footage from the video aggressively trying to restrain Ellis. Previously, Ellis had only been heard in a recording of police radio yelling ‘I can’t breathe,’ during the March 3 arrest
Ellis seen in the video on the ground, kicking at the officers in the footage shot by the witness from her vehicle
The footage later shows the officers restraining Ellis as the witness drives by
‘I demand that the sheriff provide details of the actions of each officer on the scene and I am directing the city manager to fire each officer involved,’ she said a press conference Thursday night that was posted on Facebook.
‘The officer who committed this crime should be fired and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’
The mayor also 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.
In the witness video, a woman filming the arrest from her car is heard yelling out to the officers to stop as they are seen throwing punches at Ellis, who is on the ground and kicking at them.
‘Hey! Stop! Oh my God! Stop hitting him. Stop hitting him. Just arrest him. Just arrest him,’ the unidentified woman pleaded from her vehicle, before a man, also not identified, distracts her from outside.
The officers are later seen in the footage holding down the man as the woman drives past them.
Officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins, Masyih Ford and Timothy Rankine, who are now on administrative leave, said they intervened when they saw Ellis harassing a woman by banging on her car window.
Manuel Ellis, a father of two children before his passing, is pictured from a GoFundMe post
According to police, Ellis started hitting their patrol car and asking to speak them about outstanding warrants against him.
Cops say he then picked up one of the officers by the vest and threw him on the ground.
They then tried to restrain him when he got combative on the floor, shortly before he died. It is unclear how he was restrained, and how long he was restrained for before he died.
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. A Tacoma police spokesperson was not immediately available when DailyMail.com reached out.
The full details of how he was restrained were not available when DailyMail contacted cops on Wednesday, but a detective said they didn’t believe officers used a knee to the neck or a choke hold.
The officers involved were not wearing their bodycams, but the Tacoma Police Department suggested there was a video that had been entered into evidence. It was not clear if the video is the same as the one revealed online.
Masyih Ford (left) and Timothy Rankine (right), are two of the four officers involved. They were not wearing body cameras but there is footage of the incident that has been submitted. The four officers were initially placed on paid leave, returned to the force, then placed on administrative leave again Wednesday after the homicide ruling
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.
Police Chief Don Ramsdell said he is awaiting investigators’ final report on Ellis’ death. The case is expected to be forwarded to the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office by next week.
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.
A makeshift memorial of flowers and lit candles is pictured in memory of Ellis