Washington state lawmakers on Monday introduced a proposal to ban police from tying up suspects, nearly four years after Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old black man, died after being held face down with his hands and feet tied behind his back. It is believed that it will be considered. It was a touchstone for racial justice demonstrators in the Pacific Northwest.
This restraint technique has long attracted concern because of the suffocation hazard, and while many cities and counties have banned it, it is still used in others.
Democratic Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, who sponsored the bill, said she didn't want anyone else to experience the “dehumanization” that Ellis faced during her lifetime.
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“How do we deal with people having to enforce the law in a way that we expect to treat them, that treats them as human beings?” she said.
Over the past four years, protests against racial injustice and the deaths of George Floyd and others at the hands of law enforcement have spurred states across the country to pass sweeping police reforms. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, few places have bans on prone restraints.
In 2021, California banned law enforcement agencies from using techniques that “involve a significant risk of hypothetical asphyxia” in which a person's ability to breathe is impeded by body position. That same year, Minnesota banned correctional officers from using prone restraints unless “deadly force is justified.”
On May 27, 2021, a memorial in Tacoma, Washington, south of Seattle, reads “Gone but not forgotten” below a photo of Manuel “Manny” Ellis. Sen. Yasmine Trudeau, D-Wash., said police are still restraining people nearly four years after the death of Manuel Ellis in an incident that sparked racial justice protests across the Pacific Northwest. I hope that a bill will be passed to prevent this. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
The U.S. Department of Justice has recommended banning the practice to avoid in-custody deaths since at least 1995, and many local governments have banned it.
The Washington Attorney General's Office recommended against the use of pig ties in its 2022 Model Use of Force Policy. At least four local agencies continue to allow pig tying, according to policies filed with the attorney general's office that year.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said it still allows hog tying, but declined to comment on the bill. One of the department's officers was involved in restraining Ms. Ellis, who was covered by a hood with spit over her face at the time of her death.
Ellis was on his way home in March 2020 when he and white Tacoma police officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank passed a police car. Burbank and Collins said Ellis tried to get into a stranger's car in the city, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, and attacked police when they confronted him.
Witnesses said officers jumped out of the car as Ellis drove by and tackled him to the ground.
He was shocked and beaten. Officers placed the man in a prone position while placing a limp restraint around his leg and handcuffing him behind his back, according to a probable cause report filed by the Washington Attorney General's Office.
After being shackled, Ellis was unable to move, the statement said.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide due to lack of oxygen. Collins, Burbank, and third officer Timothy Rankin were charged with murder or manslaughter. A jury returned a not guilty verdict in December after defense attorneys argued that Ellis' death was caused by methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease.
Trudeau, who represents Tacoma, said he made sure Ellis' sister Monet Carter Mixon endorsed her efforts before introducing the bill.
Democratic Sen. John Robick, who served as a state trooper for more than 30 years, joined Trudeau in sponsoring the bill.
Republican Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, a member of the House Public Safety Committee, said she looks forward to learning more about the bill.
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“If this form of restraint on combative detainees proves to be dangerous in any way, the state must raise grants and some money to purchase alternative methods and ensure that officers and arrestees are safe.” I think they should be trained to act 'safely,''' she said.
The bill comes years after the state passed a series of ambitious police reform bills in 2021.
The law includes a requirement that officers only be authorized to use force if they have a valid reason to make an arrest or prevent imminent injury, and use appropriate de-escalation tactics when possible. is required to be used.
The following year, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee made similar changes, including clarifying that police officers may use force to assist in restraining and transporting people in behavioral health crises. Approved a bill amending some elements of the law.
