Three Tacoma, Washington police officers will be charged in the death of Mannie Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died in March 2020 after being restrained by police with handcuffs and leg shackles, KATU ABC-2 News reports.

Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins have been charged with second-degree murder, and Timothy Rankine has been charged with first-degree manslaughter.  The trio, along with two other Tacoma police officers involved in the arrest, have been on administrative leave since the night of Ellis’s death.

Police tazed Ellis and then restrained him with handcuffs and leg shackles before putting a spit hood over his head.  On a video taken by a bystander, Ellis is heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.”  Toxicology reports done during the autopsy show Ellis had methamphetamine in his system, and officers said during the investigation into his death that Ellis exhibited “superhuman” strength.

“This is the first time the Washington Attorney General’s Office has criminally charged police officers for the unlawful use of deadly force, and just the second time homicide charges have been filed in Washington against law enforcement officers since Washingtonians adopted Initiative 940 in November 2018,” State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement.

While police claim that Ellis was trying to force his way into cars stopped on the road, including a police car, a witness to the incident said Ellis was having a genial conversation with officers in a police car when one swung open the door, knocking Ellis to the ground, and went after Ellis.  That witness then started filming the event, showing officers on top of Ellis and punching him repeatedly.

After Ellis was restrained, he repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe, so officers rolled him from his stomach onto his side, and they called for paramedics.  Ellis still repeated he couldn’t breathe while on his side.  When paramedics arrived, they found his heart rate to be normal.

An autopsy determined Ellis died of a homicide resulting from “hypoxia due to physical restraint.”  It noted that he demonstrated “methamphetamine intoxication” and that he had heart disease.