One of three Washington officers who got off on charges related to the horrible hog-tying-brutal-beating death of Manuel Ellis is now biting back against the city with a defamation lawsuit.
Ex-cop Timothy Rankine filed a lawsuit alleging that as a result of the 2020 incident, he was dragged through the mud as a racist, no good cop. Four years ago, Ellis was seen on bystander video being beaten and Tasered while hogtied by Rankine and Tacoma officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins. The incident ended in Ellis being pressed into the ground until he lost consciousness. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.
The cops released their side of the story, claiming Ellis provoked the officers, resisted arrest and died due to drug usage. However, video footage showed quite the opposite: that Ellis complied and voiced repeatedly that he couldn’t breathe while being restrained.
As expected, the nation was outraged and called for police accountability. The three cops, including Rankine, were charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder. Though, they were acquitted last year.
Now, Rankine wants to take legal action.
Read more from KING 5 News:
Rankine alleges elected officials and employees made statements to the public “wrongfully and falsely accusing me of criminal misconduct,” which destroyed his reputation and ruined his ability to work in the past and in the future, according to his claim.
Claims filed by his wife, Katherine Chinn, seek $12 million and allege she suffered emotional damage, damage to her marriage and personal safety risks. She claims Attorney General Ferguson incited “racially motivated hatred towards my husband and his work as a law enforcement officer ... using politically motivated false statements and criminal prosecution of my husband for conduct that was not true,” according to her claim.
The suit echoes how Kyle Rittenhouse “stood his ground” after escaping conviction in the killing of two people. The whole country slammed Rittenhouse for being a no-good racist for showing up guns loaded to a Black Lives Matter protest. Though he never actually took legal action against Facebook, LeBron James and more people who came for him on social media as he threatened to, he attempted to clear his name in an interview with Tucker Carlson saying, “This case has nothing to do with race. It never had anything to do with race. It had to do with the right to self-defense.”
Rankine’s claims total about $47 million. The next plan of action to move the suit forward is for the State Office of Risk Management to resolve the claims, the report says.