TACOMA, Wash. — The three Tacoma police officers who were acquitted in Manuel Ellis' death were cleared of wrongdoing in a Tacoma Police Department (TPD) internal affairs investigation, their attorneys confirmed to KING 5 Monday.
Attorney Jared Ausserer, who represented Officer Matthew Collins in the trial over Ellis' death, confirmed the department "found no wrongdoing" on the part of his client on the night Ellis died and only received a courtesy violation for using profanity. Attorney Wayne Fricke, who represented Officer Christopher Burbank, confirmed he was aware his client was cleared by TPD's internal affairs.
A Tacoma Police Department spokesperson said the officers met with Chief Avery Moore on Friday to discuss the findings.
Moore will make a final determination about discipline based on the internal affairs investigation, which he has until Tuesday morning to decide. The decision was supposed to come last week but was delayed by the city, saying they were "moving as quickly as possible while preserving the integrity of the process."
Burbank and Collins were both charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in Ellis' death by the Washington State Attorney General's Office. Rankine was charged with first-degree manslaughter.
The state alleged Burbank and Collins initiated a confrontation with Ellis on the night he died, assaulted and wrongfully imprisoned him, leading to his death. Eyewitness video shows the officers punching Ellis while he lay on the ground and putting his hands up in the air in a surrender position while an officer fired a Taser at him. Ellis was handcuffed and hogtied while Rankine applied pressure to his back, pressing him into the ground. The Pierce County medical examiner determined those restraint methods caused Ellis to suffer from a lack of oxygen, resulting in heart failure.
The defense countered that Ellis was the aggressor on the night he died, beat the window of Burbank and Collins' police cruiser and continuously fought back against the officers' attempts to restrain him. They denied the officers' actions were even responsible for Ellis' death in the first place, saying a toxic, potentially fatal level of methamphetamine in his system was the true cause.
The officers were found not guilty of all charges at the conclusion of the trial in December 2023.
Following calls for a federal investigation, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington confirmed they were independently investigating Ellis' death for federal law violations.
When reached for comment, Ausserer said, "Officer Collins welcomes yet another review of his conduct. The Tacoma Police Department's review found no wrongdoing, twelve jurors found him not guilty and any other objective review will find the same. Mr. Ellis' death was tragic, not criminal."