Matthew Ericksen, an attorney for Ellis’ family, called it “perverse” and said the officers were “effectively being rewarded” for the 33-year-old’s 2020 death.
SEATTLE (AP) — Three Washington state police officers who were
But three witnesses testified they saw no such thing. After what appeared to be a brief conversation between Ellis and the officers, who are both white, Burbank, in the passenger seat, threw open his door, knocking Ellis down, they said.
The witnesses — one of whom yelled for the officers to stop attacking Ellis — and a doorbell surveillance camera captured video of parts of the encounter. The video showed Ellis with his hands up in a surrender position as Burbank shot a Taser at his chest and Collins wrapped an arm around his neck from behind.
Rankine was among the many other officers who responded. Ellis was already handcuffed facedown when he arrived. Rankine knelt on his upper back.
Video showed Ellis addressing the officers as “sir” while telling them he couldn’t breathe. One officer is heard responding, “Shut the (expletive) up, man.”
Attorneys for the officers argued that Ellis died from a lethal amount of methamphetamine that was in his system as well as a heart condition, not from the officers’ actions.
Ellis’ death became a touchstone for racial justice demonstrators in the Pacific Northwest. But it also coincided with the first U.S. outbreak of COVID-19 at a nursing home in nearby Kirkland and did not garner the attention that the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis did nearly three months later.
The trial was the first under a 5-year-old state law designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force.
The Ellis family settled a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Pierce County, which is home to Tacoma, for $4 million last year.
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