When the police killings of Breonna Taylor, then George Floyd triggered an American awakening to the disproportionate oppression by law enforcement that Black people face, the soil was still fresh on Manuel Ellis’ grave in Tacoma, Washington. On March 3, 10 days before Taylor was killed, Ellis was walking home from a convenience store with a late-night snack of raspberry-filled donuts. For a decade, Ellis, 33 and Black, had endured minimal help for his significant behavioral health problems, but this night he was living in a secure recovery home and celebrating a new mission as a “punk for Jesus.” Police confronted him, and within an hour, Ellis was dead on the pavement, asphyxiated by Tacoma officers who physically restrained him. Law enforcement quickly issued public statements describing as Ellis the aggressor while drawing attention to his past arrest. For months, that’s all police said. Unbeknownst to police at the time, witnesses and videos starkly contradicted these accounts. One firsthand witness - who recorded police beating and tasing Ellis, and driving his head to the ground under a knee - said he didn’t think initial news stories were referring to the incident he observed, because they veered so wildly from what he’d watched. To get to the truth, The Seattle Times collected thousands of pages of documents using public records laws, including police reports involving officers’ contacts with Ellis and with other subjects in behavioral health crises; use of force reports for the officers who restrained Ellis and text messages between them after the incident; and emails between top local government leaders about the faulty investigation. Those records undermined the story that law enforcement was telling about Ellis, while showing officers’ pursuit of a litany of “driving while Black” offenses against him. The Times’ reporting went beyond the troubling questions about its handling of Ellis, in the moment and throughout his life as an impoverished Black man with serious mental illness. It showed a police agency and a local government with a cowboy culture – the officers involved in Ellis’ death were called “studs” by a peer – that went so far as to conduct covert surveillance on his family and their supporters after his death. Ultimately, Gov. Jay Inslee, in a very rare move, took the investigation into Ellis’ death away from local law enforcement because of undisclosed conflicts of interest and turned it over to state police. Reporter Patrick Malone teamed with photographer Erika Schultz and video journalists Lauren Frohne, Corinne Chin and Ramon Dampor that married words and images to spotlight previously unknown details of Ellis’ life and death, his family’s profound sense of loss and a community at the crossroads of racial equity in policing. The Times reporting had broad impact how a new state law, intended to avoid such conflicts of interest, was being flouted, prompting the state Attorney General to step in and review more than 20 other similar cases statewide. The Washington state Legislature is now considering proposals to strengthen police accountability. And Pierce County, after years of rejecting it, has passed a tax to curb clashes between police and mentally ill subjects. Please accept this entry for The Best of the West Awards Category 3, Social Justice Reporting. , OCR Text: When the police killings of Breonna Taylor, then George Floyd triggered an American awakening to the disproportionate oppression by law enforcement that Black people face, the soil was still fresh on Manuel Ellis’ grave in Tacoma, Washington. On March 3, 10 days before Taylor was killed, Ellis was walking home from a convenience store with a late-night snack of raspberry-filled donuts. For a decade, Ellis, 33 and Black, had endured minimal help for his significant behavioral health problems, but this night he was living in a secure recovery home and celebrating a new mission as a “punk for Jesus.” Police confronted him, and within an hour, Ellis was dead on the pavement, asphyxiated by Tacoma officers who physically restrained him. Law enforcement quickly issued public statements describing as Ellis the aggressor while drawing attention to his past arrest. For months, that’s all police said. Unbeknownst to police at the time, witnesses and videos starkly contradicted these accounts. One firsthand witness - who recorded police beating and tasing Ellis, and driving his head to the ground under a knee - said he didn’t think initial news stories were referring to the incident he observed, because they veered so wildly from what he’d watched. To get to the truth, The Seattle Times collected thousands of pages of documents using public records laws, including police reports involving officers’ contacts with Ellis and with other subjects in behavioral health crises; use of force reports for the officers who restrained Ellis and text messages between them after the incident; and emails between top local government leaders about the faulty investigation. Those records undermined the story that law enforcement was telling about Ellis, while showing officers’ pursuit of a litany of “driving while Black” offenses against him. The Times’ reporting went beyond the troubling questions about its handling of Ellis, in the moment and throughout his life as an impoverished Black man with serious mental illness. It showed a police agency and a local government with a cowboy culture – the officers involved in Ellis’ death were called “studs” by a peer – that went so far as to conduct covert surveillance on his family and their supporters after his death. Ultimately, Gov. Jay Inslee, in a very rare move, took the investigation into Ellis’ death away from local law enforcement because of undisclosed conflicts of interest and turned it over to state police. Reporter Patrick Malone teamed with photographer Erika Schultz and video journalists Lauren Frohne, Corinne Chin and Ramon Dampor that married words and images to spotlight previously unknown details of Ellis’ life and death, his family’s profound sense of loss and a community at the crossroads of racial equity in policing. The Times reporting had broad impact how a new state law, intended to avoid such conflicts of interest, was being flouted, prompting the state Attorney General to step in and review more than 20 other similar cases statewide. The Washington state Legislature is now considering proposals to strengthen police accountability. And Pierce County, after years of rejecting it, has passed a tax to curb clashes between police and mentally ill subjects. Please accept this entry for The Best of the West Awards Category 3, Social Justice Reporting. , Z ArchiveInABox,Sample Archive 9/17,Collection 9/17,Sub Group A,Test Record 1,490262702602b006671222_0 (1).pdf Page 1, 490262702602b006671222_0 (1).pdf Page 1