Family Of Man Killed By Tacoma Police To File $30 Million Lawsuit

TACOMA, WA — The family of Manuel Ellis, a Black man killed by Tacoma police officers in March of this year, have announced a lawsuit against the City of Tacoma seeking up to $30 million in damages, according to several sources.

As The Seattle Times reports, the lawsuit was announced Friday, which would have been Ellis' 34th birthday. Ellis died on March 3 while being restrained by four Tacoma police officers. His death is reminiscent of many other stories of police killing or otherwise injuring Black Americans which recently sparked a nationwide reckoning over police violence and racism. It drew considerable concern at the time, which was reignited in early June when the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that Ellis had died because of the way the four officers restrained him, and ruled his death a homicide.

At the time of his death, police argued that Ellis had been combative, and that they had restrained him for his own safety, an argument the family disputes.

"The police don't even have a legitimate explanation for why they approached him in the first place," James Bible, attorney for the Ellis Family said at a conference announcing the suit. "The ones that they have given are ever-changing and ever-shifting."

Even the investigation into the police use of force in this case has been a tumultuous one. Initially, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department had been called in to investigate the use of force that killed Ellis. I-940, a police reform initiative recently passed by Washington voters, requires that deadly police shootings be investigated by a separate law enforcement agency, with the goal of making those investigations more independent and unbiased.

However, months after the investigation began, state officials discovered that a Pierce County deputy had been on scene and was potentially involved in Ellis' death, meaning their investigation was not truly independent. That the Pierce County Sheriff's Department failed to report that critical information for months drew extreme scrutiny, and pushed state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to launch a probe into all 2020 deadly use of force investigations. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department also failed to establish a liaison with Ellis' family, as required by law. As a result, the investigation was taken from Pierce County deputies and, after some debate, handed to Washington State Patrol. Their investigation is ongoing.

At the conference announcing the lawsuit Friday, Ellis' family and Bible lamented the amount of time it has taken to even get the investigation started, and expressed frustration at the apparent lack of concern from law enforcement and state higher-ups, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.

“The Tacoma Police Department did everything it could to hide information. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department did everything they could to back the Tacoma Police Department,” Bible said.

Following the announcement of the suit, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and City Manager Elizabeth Pauli issued a joint statement, which did not directly comment on the suit, but did express their condolences to Ellis' family, reading in part:

"We cannot begin to fathom the deep pain of the Ellis family on the 34th birthday of their son, brother, and father. We understand the frustration that the family expressed and share their desire for a thorough independent investigation that is completed as swiftly as possible. We join them in their call for a state agency that will provide independent investigations for future cases, and we will continue to advocate for the establishment of this agency."

Related: WSP Releases Update Into Manuel Ellis Death Investigation