Tacoma Police

This week marks two years since the state attorney general charged three Tacoma police officers with murder and manslaughter in the killing of Manuel Ellis. They are still employed with the department, while they await trial.

Since joining Tacoma's police department last year, Chief Avery Moore has hired more officers and launched a plan to address violent crime. But concerns from the public remain. KNKX's Kari Plog spoke with Moore about his first year on the job.

When the state attorney general charged three Tacoma police officers with felonies for killing Manuel Ellis, it triggered an internal affairs investigation into the officers’ conduct. Nearly two years later, the city’s police chief has confirmed that the investigation is on hold until the criminal trial takes place later this year.

The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office says it has added the three Tacoma police officers charged in the 2020 killing of Manuel Ellis to a list of law enforcement with credibility issues, known as the Brady list.

The Tacoma Police Department has started emphasizing cold cases — homicides that no longer have any leads — in hopes of drumming up new information to solve them.

The Walk Home is a podcast, produced by KNKX in partnership with The Seattle Times, about the life and death of Manny Ellis. KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick talked to KNKX Special Projects reporter and producer Will James about the latest episode "The Other Side of the Line."

On the night of March 3, 2020 — three months before George Floyd was murdered — Manny Ellis encountered police while walking home in Tacoma, Washington. He died on that dark street corner. Officers say it was an accident brought on by Manny himself. The story almost ended there. The story is profiled in a new podcast, The Walk Home, produced by KNKX News and The Seattle Times.

The City of Tacoma must release unredacted police interviews to state prosecutors, who have charged three Tacoma officers with murder and manslaughter in the death of Manuel Ellis. That’s according to a judge who rejected an argument made last month by the city and attorneys for one of those officers that the records shouldn’t fall under a subpoena.

A Tacoma police officer will not face criminal charges for driving through a crowd in January 2021. Officer Khanh Phan was one of several officers responding to an illegal gathering downtown, where people were watching drivers do stunts in their cars. Two people were injured when he drove through the group, saying he feared for his safety.

The City of Tacoma is fighting to keep records from a police department internal affairs investigation out of the hands of prosecutors as three officers await trial for murder and manslaughter in the death of Manuel Ellis.