SEATTLE (AP) — Three Washington state police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges in the restraint death of a Black man who repeatedly told them he couldn’t breathe.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson charged Tacoma officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, who are both white, with second-degree murder Thursday after witnesses said they attacked Manuel Ellis.
Officer Timothy Rankine, who is Asian, is charged with manslaughter.
They pleaded not guilty Friday in Pierce County Superior Court, where a judge set bail at $100,000 each.
Ellis died in March last year, weeks before George Floyd’s death triggered a nationwide reckoning on race and policing.