Manuel Ellis' family gets $6 million in wrongful death settlement with city of Tacoma

July 02, 2025 / 11:18 am

caption: A mural honoring 33-year-old Manuel Ellis at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South 11th street in Tacoma.

More than five years after Manuel "Manny" Ellis was killed during a police encounter on his way home from a Tacoma convenience store, the city will pay his family $6 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

The settlement comes after Ellis' family received $4 million in 2022 as part of another settlement with Pierce County.

“This has been a long and painful journey for the Ellis family,” the family's attorney James Bible said in a news release posted on Facebook. “They have remained steadfast in their pursuit of accountability and some measure of justice for Manny.”

A spokesperson with the City of Tacoma confirmed a settlement had been reached on Wednesday, but declined to comment on specifics.

Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died on March 3, 2020. He was walking home from a convenience store when he encountered a group of police officers, who stopped Ellis and said they'd seen him attempting to open car doors while he walked.

The stop turned violent. On a video captured by a doorbell security camera across the street, Ellis could be heard repeatedly telling the officers he couldn't breathe, to which one officer responded, "Shut the f*** up man." The officers also can be seen putting Ellis in a hog-tie position and putting a fabric spit hood over his head.

Ellis died at the scene. The Pierce County medical examiner later ruled the death a homicide. Two of the officers involved were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter; a third officer was charged with first-degree manslaughter.

A Pierce County jury found all three not guilty in December 2023.

The officers were also cleared of wrongdoing by the Tacoma Police Department in January 2024, though all three resigned their positions.

Ellis' death came only weeks before George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis, triggering widespread protests against police brutality in Washington and across the nation.

In the Tuesday news release, Bible said he hopes "Manny's name will never be forgotten."

"His life mattered," he said. "We call upon the City of Tacoma to find meaningful ways to honor his name and ensure that what happened to him never happens to another."