Acquittals in Manuel Ellis’ death put Washington state’s police accountability law in the spotlight

By Claire RushThe Associated Press A Washington state law aimed at improving police accountability is in the spotlight after three Tacoma officers were acquitted in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained face-down on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath. The measure approved by voters in 2018 was designed to make it easier to prosecute police accused of wrongfully using deadly force. Initiative 940, referred to as I-940, removed a requirement that prosecutors prove an officer acted with actual malice in order to bring a case — a requirement no other state had — and established that an independent investigation should be conducted after use of force results in death or great bodily harm, among other things. The nearly three-month trial of the three police officers — Matthew Collins, 40; Christopher Burbank, 38; and Timothy Rankine, 34 — was the first to be held under the 5-year-old law. The trial over Ellis’ death in Tacoma, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, ended Dec. 21 with their acquittal on various murder and manslaughter charges. The acquittal came a day before a jury in Colorado convicted two paramedics in the death...