Manuel Ellis, a black man, died of oxygen deprivation after yelling 'I can't breathe' while police restrained him, medical examiner says

• Manuel Ellis, a black man, died at the hands of police officers in Tacoma, Washington, on March 3, according to a newly released medical examiner report.
• He yelled, "I can't breathe" as he was restrained – like George Floyd and Eric Garner, other black men who died at the hands of police.
• "There's a lot of questions that still need to be answered," Monet Carter-Mixon, Ellis's sister, said of the police's actions.

Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old black man, yelled out, "I can't breathe" as police restrained him on March 3 in Tacoma, Washington.

Ellis's plea can be heard in a police radio recording taken on the night of his death. There were no bystanders to film the incident, and the police weren't wearing body cameras.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a homicide Wednesday, reporting he died from respiratory arrest as a result of oxygen deprivation, hypoxia, and physical restraint, and adding that methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease were contributing factors. The Pierce County Sheriff's department has been preparing a report on the death, the New York Times reported.

"The information is all being put together," Ed Troyer, a spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department, told the Times. "We expect to present it to the prosecutor at the end of this week or early next week."

"I can't breathe" has become a rallying cry for anti-racist protesters after the death of black man George Floyd, who repeatedly said those words as then-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.

As a New York police officer choked black man Eric Garner to death in 2014, Garner said the same thing.

An average 2.8 men die per day in police-involved incidents, a study found. Black men are four times likelier to be killed than white men.

In the wake of Ellis's death, his sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, demanded that the police be held accountable for killing him. "There's a lot of questions that still need to be answered," she said.

"My heart literally hurts," she added. "It's painful. My brother was my best friend."

The police are the only known witnesses of the incident

Spokesman Troyer told the Times that officers in a police cruiser watched Ellis, a musician and father of two, bang on a car window while they were at an intersection. Troyer said Ellis walked toward the vehicle and pushed an officer to the ground when the officer got out of the cruiser.

"Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative," the Tacoma Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday. (After police killed Floyd, the Minneapolis Police Department said he "physically resisted arrest." A witness said Floyd had done no such thing, which is consistent with video footage of the scene.)

"The main reason why he was restrained was so he wouldn't hurt himself or them," Troyer said. "As soon as he said he couldn't breathe, they requested medical aid."

Ellis was still alive when medical workers arrived, Troyer added.

• Read more:
• George Floyd didn't resist arrest before 3 cops pinned him to the ground, witness says
• Minneapolis City Council members look to disband the police department as schools and other city agencies cut ties with police
• A majority of Americans say the anger that led to protests against the police killing of George Floyd is 'fully justified'
• Voices captured on an NYC police scanner can be heard saying protesters should be shot and run over
• 'They gonna blame that on us': Videos show white protesters smashing windows and defacing stores as black protesters tell them they're endangering black lives