Ex-Tacoma officer acquitted in Ellis case files $47M damage claims against city, state

A former Tacoma police officer who was acquitted in the death of Manuel Ellis and left his job with a $500,000 payout has filed multi-million dollar claims against city and state officials, alleging he was falsely accused of racially biased policing.

Timothy Rankine was one of three officers put on trial last year for the March 3, 2020 death of Ellis. The 33-year-old man known as Manny was beaten, shocked with a Taser three times and pressed to the ground on his stomach with his limbs tied behind his back in a hogtie position while officers knelt or sat on him. The Pierce County medical examiner found he died of oxygen deprivation.

Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, who first struggled with Ellis after he reportedly punched the window of their patrol car, were found not guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter after jurors deliberated for about two days. Prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office charged Rankine with solely first-degree manslaughter.

Rankine arrived at the scene as backup and testified at the trial that he got on top of Ellis as Burbank was bucked off. He said he eventually put his knees on Ellis’ back to control him while the man thrashed on the ground. Rankine also testified that he twice put Ellis on his side so he could breathe better. Ellis’ last words were, “I can’t breathe.”

Rankine and his wife, Katherine Chinn, claim that Attorney General Bob Ferguson, his staff and contractors, as well as elected officials in Tacoma and city employees defamed Rankine by falsely accused him of criminal misconduct and that those accusations were politically motivated, according to copies of the tort claims, which were first reported by NPR station KNKX. The claims seek a total $47 million in damages.

“They allege that he’s pretty much been forced out of position because of the discriminatory acts of leadership and creating a hostile workplace,” Rankine’s attorney, Joan Mell, said Tuesday. “That he can’t even do his job safely there.”

The Attorney General’s Office said through a spokesperson that it didn’t have a comment on the claims. Brionna Aho said she confirmed that the office has not received similar claims from Collins or Burbank. A City of Tacoma spokesperson said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation, and it hadn’t received tort claims from Burbank, Collins or their spouses.

Tort claims are generally precursors to lawsuits. Aho said claims are first submitted to the State Office of Risk Management, which can resolve the claim on its own or assign it to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation and handling. Once submitted, there is a 60-day period before a lawsuit can be filed. The Attorney General’s Office got the claims April 26, and Tacoma received them April 24.

Chinn’s claim against the Attorney General and his staff alleged that they incited “racially motivated hatred” toward her husband and his work as a law enforcement officer, disrupting their marriage and their ability to live without fear of retaliation. She made similar allegations against the City of Tacoma.

Rankine’s tort claim alleged that the state and city officials incited “hatred, threats, and violence against me and my family.” His attorney said Rankine’s family was completely uprooted, and that his wife had to “hide out.” Mell said it’s still unnerving for them to go out in public.

The attorney said she doesn’t know where Rankine and his wife are living. She said she’s been working with them in Montana, where one of her law offices is based, but she doesn’t think they live there.

Rankine, Collins and Burbank each received $500,000 from the City of Tacoma in January for voluntarily separating from the city. Mell said that “barely” compensated Rankine for what he lost.

“As you can see in Washington, none of these guys can get jobs anywhere,” Mell said. “And there’s such a lobbying interest against law enforcement officers like these guys, and they can’t work in that field.”

All three officers remained on paid leave for the duration of their criminal case, collectively making more than $1 million by the time their trial started in September.

Burbank briefly found work at the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office in April, but he resigned within two days after the community responded to the hiring decision with outrage. Sheriff Derek Sanders said Burbank’s family received death threats. He later held a public meeting where Ellis’ sister, Monét Carter-Mixon, and other Thurston County residents questioned why Burbank was hired.

Mell said she thinks it’s important that Rankine is pushing back against the vilification of law enforcement, which she said makes it impossible to know what their job is, how to do it or how to keep the public safe.

“The Ellis case is tragic,” Mell said. “Not only what happened to Manny but how he’s been exploited and law enforcement have been exploited around that political issue.”

A federal review of the officers’ actions is ongoing by the office of Tessa Gorman, U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. The office is independently reviewing the state’s criminal case against Collins, Burbank and Rankine for any violations of federal criminal statutes. Ellis’ family settled with Pierce County in 2022 for $4 million as part of a federal wrongful death lawsuit, and they have an ongoing suit against Tacoma.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the amount of damages sought by Rankine and his wife.