As communities around the world gather together to protest police brutality, another story has emerged with an ending that is all too familiar. Tacoma, WA police officers tried to arrest Manuel Ellis on March 3rd when they claimed to have seen him "trying to open car doors of occupied vehicles." From there, the police said that Ellis was "combative" which is why they took aggressive measures to physically restrain him.
CNN reports that new audio and video footage has emerged revealing that Ellis was yelling, "I can't breathe" as police officers asked for hobbles. Minutes after he's heard screaming this, the police said they demanded for an ambulance to arrive. Ellis' family lawyer said that the family is positive that it's him on the recording. Police have also confirmed this, though they said that there is additional video footage. When he said he couldn't breathe they rolled him on the side and he was breathing and he was talking," Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, claimed.
Regardless of what the police say might have happened, Ellis was unarmed and the autopsy revealed that his murder was the caused by respiratory arrest due to hypoxia caused by physical restraint, a condition where not enough oxygen is flowing through the body.
After the four officers involved in Ellis' death were placed on leave, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards demanded that they are arrested and prosecuted to the fullest degree. "In this moment, at this time, based on the information I know today, the officers' actions we saw on this video tonight only confirmed that Manuel Ellis' death was a homicide," Woodards said Thursday in a news conference. "I am asking -- no, I am telling you that I am going to call for several things, and the officers who committed this crime should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."