Re: The 3 officers cleared in Manuel Ellis' death will each receive $500,000 to leave Tacoma police

[a425couple]

On 1/17/24 10:35, GEO wrote:
>
> <http://apnews.com>
> The 3 officers cleared in Manuel Ellis' death will each receive $500,000 to
> leave Tacoma police | AP News
> GENE JOHNSON
>
> January 16, 2024
>
> SEATTLE (AP) - Three Washington state police officers who were cleared of
> criminal charges in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis - a Black man who was
> shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for
> breath - will each receive $500,000 to leave the Tacoma Police Department,
> according to documents released Tuesday.
>
> "This says to the public that these are excellent officers, and it's a
> shame Tacoma is losing them," said Anne Bremner, an attorney for one of the
> officers, Timothy Rankine.
>
> A jury acquitted Rankine, 34, and co-defendants Matthew Collins, 40, and
> Christopher Burbank, 38, in December following a trial that lasted more
> than two months. Rankine was charged with manslaughter, while Collins and
> Burbank were charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder.
>
> The city released copies of the "voluntary separation" agreements with the
> officers Tuesday as police Chief Avery Moore announced findings that none
> violated the use-of-force policy in effect on March 3, 2020. Collins was
> found to have violated a policy concerning courtesy.
>
> The use-of-force policy has since been updated. The old one "failed to
> serve the best interests of the police department or the community," Moore
> said.
>
> "These agreements support a responsible, constructive path forward for our
> community and the Tacoma Police Department," City Manager Elizabeth Pauli
> said in a written statement.
>
> In an email, Matthew Ericksen, an attorney for Ellis' family, called it
> "perverse" and said the officers were "effectively being rewarded" for his
> death. He noted that the officers had already been paid about $1.5 million
> total while being on leave for nearly four years.
>
> "The worst TPD officers are also the highest paid TPD officers!" Ericksen
> wrote. "Everyone in the community should be upset by this."
>
> The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle said last week that it is reviewing
> the case; the Justice Department can bring prosecutions for federal civil
> rights violations, but the scope of the review was not disclosed.
>
> Ellis, 33, was walking home with doughnuts from a 7-Eleven in Tacoma, about
> 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, when he passed a patrol car
> stopped at a red light, with Collins and Burbank inside.
>
> The officers claimed they saw Ellis try to open the door of a passing car
> at the intersection and he became aggressive when they tried to question
> him about it. Collins testified that Ellis demonstrated "superhuman
> strength" by lifting Collins off the ground and throwing him through the
> air.
>
> 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.
>

When a stupid mayor makes multiple racist statements before a trial
that show she thinks the police officers are guilty,,,,
I guess the city better just pay them.