TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - The state Attorney General’s office has been granted concurrent jurisdiction in the investigation into the death of a black man who died while in Tacoma Police custody.
The move by Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett Monday allows Bob Ferguson’s office to immediate access to the investigation of Manual Ellis’ March 3 death, KOMO-TV reported.
On Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee pledged an independent state review after the Pierce County prosecutor’s work was finished, but Robnett said she didn’t want to wait.
“In the interests of justice, the Attorney General’s review should begin now,” Robnett said in a news release.
Police encountered Ellis on March 3 after he was reportedly punching the window of a car. Officers asked Ellis if he needed help, at which point he told officers he had warrants, according to Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Troyer said Ellis picked up the officer by the vest and slam-dunked him to the ground, prompting the second officer to get out of the police cruiser and work to physically restrain Ellis in order to detain him.
At one point while Ellis was being restrained, he told officers he couldn’t breathe, investigators said. Medics performed CPR on him but he died at the scene.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled Tuesday Ellis’ death as a homicide — specifically, respiratory arrest to hypoxia, due to physical restraint, the examiner ruled. The office found contributing factors that included methamphetamine intoxication and dilated cardiomyopathy, also known as an enlarged heart.
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and Ellis’ family have called on all four officers involved in Ellis’ death to be fired and arrested. The officers were put on administrative leave last week after the autopsy results were made public.
The state patrol will review the Pierce County sheriff’s investigation of Ellis’ death to ensure it is complete. Ferguson’s office determine whether any different charging decisions need to be made by the attorney general.
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