'I can't breathe': death of black man in custody ruled a homicide in Washington

The death of an African American father of two who called out “I can’t breathe” while handcuffed in police custody in March in Washington state has been ruled a homicide, according to a medical examiner’s report released Wednesday.

Manuel Ellis, 33, died of respiratory arrest on 3 March in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle, due to hypoxia and physical restraint, said Rich O’Brien, an investigator for the Pierce county medical examiner’s office. Other factors that may have contributed to his death included methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease.

The report was released in the middle of nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, which erupted after 46-year-old George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on 25 May. All four of the former officers at the scene of his death were charged after video was released showing one of them kneeling on Floyd’s neck, despite Floyd’s cries of “I can’t breathe”.

“Manny was taken from me, he was murdered,” Marcia Carter, Manuel Ellis’s mother, said during a press conference in Tacoma on Thursday.

She told the small crowd that she spoke to her son about an hour before his death. He told her that he had just come from church and was feeling really good. She said the last words he said to her were: “Remember I love you.”

“My heart hurt,” she said. “I cried for two months and 10 days, every day, all day.”

The Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal referenced Ellis’s death in a tweet Thursday in which she highlighted the need for accountability and justice for him and “for so, so many more Black Americans in states across this country who should still be alive today”.

On Wednesday morning, the four officers involved in the arrest were placed on administrative leave while the Pierce county sheriff’s department conducts an independent investigation of Ellis’s death.

 The Washington governor, Jay Inslee, said that discovering the full circumstances surrounding Ellis’s death is a “top priority” for him. 

 “We will be pushing to make sure there is a full and complete investigation,” he added.

Tacoma police officers had stopped at an intersection at about 11.30pm when they noticed Ellis hitting car windows and trying to open a car door, Ed Troyer, the Pierce county sheriff’s spokesman, told the Guardian. He came up to their police car, asking for help and saying there were warrants out for his arrest.

When one of the officers got out of the car, Troyer said Ellis grabbed him by his vest and threw him to the ground. The second officer then came out of the car and wrestled him into handcuffs. He was lying on the ground when he started saying he couldn’t breathe.

Troyer said officers did not put him in a chokehold or put their knee on his neck. He said they also did not use batons or Tasers, although he was not able to provide any additional details about how Ellis was restrained.

When Ellis said he couldn’t breathe, they rolled him on to his side and called the local fire department and medical units. By the time they arrived a few minutes later, Ellis was still breathing. He died about 40 minutes later, Troyer said.

Officials said he looked to be experiencing “excited delirium”, a condition that can come with attempted violence, unexpected strength and very high body temperature. Troyer said the investigation by the sheriff’s department is expected to be presented to the prosecutor’s office by early next week.

Cellphone video footage that appeared to show the arrest and beating of Ellis in March was posted on Twitter on Thursday by the Tacoma Action Collective, a local social justice community group. When asked how the footage was captured, the group said it was shot by a witness whose name would be released later.

The Tacoma mayor, Victoria Woodards, called Ellis’s death “tragic” during a press conference Wednesday. She said more information on his death could come as early as Thursday. 

“In the face of longstanding racism and recent national events, we are devastated to have the death of Manuel Ellis become a part of this national conversation,” she said.

 “We don’t know a lot, but what we do know and what we have heard is deeply troubling to us,” she later added.

Ellis was a musician and the father to an 18-month-old daughter and 11-year-old son, according to a GoFundMe account created five days ago by Monet Carter-mixon, Ellis’s sister, and Black Lives Matter Seattle King county. As of Thursday, the page had raised about $43,000.

“We are proud of the man Manuel became, like so many Black men in our community, his greatest achievements were grounded in his ability to transform trauma and personal struggles into victories,” the fundraiser says.

Ellis’s father died of stomach cancer when he was still a baby, according to the fundraiser. He ended up having a challenging childhood, which “led to struggles with addiction and mental health needs, undiagnosed for many years”.

But at the time of his death, he was truly loving fatherhood and helping his sister raise her children, the fundraiser explained.