Woke Tacoma police chief pays off three acquitted officers $500,000 to resign, personally attacks the cops

TACOMA, WA - When police officers are acquitted in a criminal case, they typically get their jobs back with pay. That, of course, is if their chief isn’t a politically-correct hack trying to suck up to the progressive wing of the Democrat Party. 

Many law enforcement agencies are fortunate to have leaders who, while holding their officers accountable, also have their backs when they are wrongly accused. Sheriff Grady Judd in Polk County, Florida, and former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva come to mind. Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik is another example. 

Then you have Chief Avery Moore of the Tacoma, Washington Police Department. After three of his officers were acquitted of either murder or manslaughter charges in the death of a man named Manuel Ellis, Moore convinced the city of Tacoma to seek their resignations in exchange for a $500,000 buyout, according to The News Tribune. 

Aside from the criminal charges, the three officers–Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank, and Timothy Rankine–were also found not to have violated department policy, save Collins, who was given a written reprimand apparently for rudeness to Ellis, after an internal affairs investigation conducted by the Tacoma PD. Collins’ reprimand was the only complaint against officers involved in the incident that was upheld after he told Ellis, “Shut the fuck up, man.”

This came after Ellis pulled the George Floyd card and told him and Burbank, his partner, that he couldn’t breathe. Ellis’ cause of death was determined to be oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint, Pierce County’s former medical examiner found. 

After the officers were acquitted, the City of Tacoma agreed to pay each $500,000 for voluntarily separating from the department, according to copies of their “voluntary” resignation agreements, shared publicly by the city. The payments will be forwarded “as soon as possible” after the officers submit their letters of resignation. In addition to the payout, each officer may also be eligible for standard separation stipends as laid out in the Tacoma Municipal Code and the collective bargaining agreement they worked under. 

All three officers had been on paid leave since May 2021, when they were arrested. 

Moore referred to the DEI playbook in giving a written statement about the situation. 

“While acknowledging our incomplete achievement of reform goals in the past decade, the last two years have witnessed substantial efforts to revolutionize the Tacoma Police Department, placing a strong emphasis on fostering inclusivity and pride among all stakeholders,” Moore’s statement said. [emphasis added] “These strides are a result of a collective endeavor.”

Among the reasons the officers were acquitted were policies in effect at the time Ellis died on March 3, 2020, Moore acknowledged. He said the department’s use-of-force policy “failed” to serve the best interests of the department and protect the community, however it “guided him” in his decision since it was policy at that time. 

As a result of Ellis’ death, at least two of the department’s policies were amended, including a ban on neck restraints and the creation of a policy over the use of spit hoods. Moore said the department is undergoing a comprehensive review of department policies with support from the Community’s Police Advisory Committee and Lexipol, a Texas-based company that assists police departments in policy development. 

Moore then went full-blown woke, channeling all the leftist talking points about systemic racism in policing. 

“I acknowledge the detrimental impact of policing on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, extending both a personal and collective apology,” Moore said. [emphasis added]

“My awareness of the historical context of policing includes acts of oppression, abuse, and dehumanization, all carried out under the color of law. [emphasis added]

Clearly, Moore must have the undying support of people under his command…oh, never mind. As a police officer, it must be gratifying to know that your leader believes you engage in the “oppression, abuse, and dehumanization” of people. 

The internal affairs investigation concluded about one month after the three officers were acquitted of their alleged crimes–Collins and Burbank of murder and manslaughter charges; Rankine was found not guilty of manslaughter. 

Once the verdict was rendered on Dec. 21, the internal affairs investigation was resumed after being paused while the criminal case was being tried. 

As expected, Ellis’ family is unhappy with the outcome, complaining that a voluntary resignation allows the officers to retain their police officer certification. Attorney James Bible noted Tacoma could be exporting its alleged “problem officers” to another police department nationwide. 

“I think that the reality is that they know that they killed Manny, that they might think they got away with it, but I think also the reality is that those sort of things creep up on you mentally and emotionally,” Bible complained. “And we’re not going to let them forget it.” 

A jury of their peers apparently disagreed with Bible’s assessment. 

Bible also said the large payouts given to the officers send the message that they are being rewarded for bad behavior, which he said runs contrary to the Constitution and basic humanity. The family has asked Biden’s Department of Justice to investigate the officers and is also asking for a wider investigation of the department that could lead to a consent decree. Given the Biden DOJ’s love for police officers–except the US Capitol Police–it appears they will likely get their way. 

Pulling out the race card, Bible said that Collins telling Ellis to “shut the fuck up,” with him only being cited for a courtesy violation, sends a bad message and is spitting in the face of the black community. 

“Clearly the expectation of law enforcement and decent human beings is if you’re with someone who says ‘I can’t breathe sir,’ you don’t further put pressure on their neck, you don’t continue to tase and beat them,” Bible said. “You do whatever you can to actually help them.” 

The federal review is being conducted by the office of the US Attorney for Western Washington, Tessa Gorman. The office announced last week that it would conduct an “independent review” of the state’s criminal case against the officers, searching far and wide for any violations of federal criminal law. We’ll lay dollars to donuts that they can drum up a number of them. 

Complaints also emanated from the Tacoma Action Collective. This organization looks to eliminate so-called “systemic oppression and systemic violence and was co-founded by a sitting city council member, Jamika Scott. The organization took to X, complaining the city and Pierce County “failed” Ellis and his family on the night he died, a failure they complain continues. 

“The system that we’re supposed to trust in Tacoma is so broken that you can beat, tase, hog-tie, and deprive a black man of oxygen until he dies and only be reprimanded for not being more respectful about killing him,” one post read. 

Tacoma City Manager Elizabeth Pauli saw the resignation agreements as a “path forward” for the city and police department while admitting that “healing throughout Tacoma will require time, open dialogue, and shared respect.” 

Attorneys for Officer Rankine said he took his decision to resign seriously and was concerned about potential threats to other officers had he remained. His attorneys said Rankine, an Asian American, along with his family, received numerous threats to their safety after being “falsely accused.” 

The attorneys said a heart monitor hooked up to Ellis by fire department personnel proved officers did not cause Ellis’ death. They also alleged prosecutors withheld exculpatory information from their expert witnesses and ignored the data during the trial. 

The “expert” cardiologist retained by the prosecution opined during the trial that EKG data showed the electrical activity of Ellis’ heart slowed, indicating hypoxia or oxygen deprivation. The former medical examiner, Dr. Thomas Clark, also reached the same conclusion during his testimony. 

In a stark similarity to the Floyd case, defense attorneys told jurors Ellis had a high concentration of methamphetamine in his system, along with underlying comorbidities, including an enlarged heart, indicating Ellis died of a drug overdose. Clark admitted the meth concentration in Ellis was “extremely high” in his autopsy report and listed it as a contributing factor, along with the enlarged heart. 

Rankine’s attorneys said society needs to confront the true issues that caused Ellis-death–drug addiction and mental health. 

“Until that moment comes, we anticipate our police force will continue to lose good officers, like Officer Rankine, and our crime rates will continue to climb to new heights,” the attorneys said. 

The trial of the three officers was the first test of Initiative 940, a so-called “police accountability” law adopted in Washington in 2019 that made it easier to charge officers for on-duty offenses. 

Collins and Burbank contacted Ellis as he was walking home from a convenience store on the night of his death. Prosecutors claimed the two officers had no legal right to detain Ellis and alleged all three officers used excessive force. Four (clearly unbiased) civilian witnesses accused officers of being the aggressors and claimed Ellis did not fight back. They claimed he was beaten, shocked by a Taser, and pressed to the ground on his stomach as officers knelt on him. 

Rankine, who arrived afterward as a backup, told investigators that he had put all his weight on Ellis’ spine when he arrived; he was also the only officer who said he heard Ellis say he couldn’t breathe. The prosecution claimed all three officers heard Ellis, with evidence showing he said it five times. 

The defense disputed the contention that the officers should have let up on Ellis, contending he continued to resist arrest. An attorney for Burbank, Wayne Fricke, told the jury in his closing argument that it was Ellis who caused his own death by resisting arrest. 

As with numerous other alleged police brutality cases, the viral video failed to show the onset of the encounter. Defense attorneys were able to offer evidence that Ellis tried the door of a car passing through an intersection. A bystander confirmed that the incident had started before the onset of the viral video circulating of the incident. 

Collins said after Ellis tried the car door, he called him over. He said Ellis was “sweating profusely” as he approached the window.

Collins directed Ellis to the sidewalk, and as he did so, he threatened to punch Burbank in the face, then slammed his fists into the patrol car’s window. Collins testified he got out of his vehicle to confront Ellis, at which time he said Ellis threw him off his feet and into the street. 

Collins testified that once Ellis became aggressive toward his partner, he had probable cause to arrest Ellis. Then, Ellis doubled down by throwing him off his feet. Collins then testified a “melee” broke out and that he used the force he did, including strikes to the head and a brief neck restraint, to get Ellis under control. 

From the looks of it, the jury got it right. Unfortunately for the officers of the Tacoma Police Department, their chief is more interested in being a hero to the leftists in Tacoma and doesn’t have the back of his officers, who in this case appear to have correctly handled this case, which a jury of their peers agreed with.