There were four officers at the scene who handcuffed and restrained him. They said paramedics arrived minutes later. Ellis, however, died while handcuffed on the ground.

As The Tacoma News-Tribune first reported, the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office noted intoxication from methamphetamine and an existing heart condition as contributing factors, but Ellis' death was ultimately ruled a homicide - respiratory arrest due to hypoxia caused by physical restraint.

On Day 6 of global protests against the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, Ellis' family is calling for justice. They've been open about Ellis' struggle with drugs, but argue that's no reason he had to die at the hands of police and leave behind two children.

"What they heard was a man on the radio saying, 'I can't breathe. I can't breathe,'" James Bible, the Ellis family's attorney, said. "He ended up dead, and that was at the hands of officers."

Investigators with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, the agency tasked with conducting an independent investigation into Ellis' death, insist it was not like the death of Floyd. They said officers did not pin him down with a knee on his neck for minutes on end.

“There was no heads on knees. There was no cutting off of circulation, none of that," Troyer said. "He was handcuffed. He was talking. He was breathing. Then throughout the process, he had trouble breathing and he told people, 'I can’t breathe.' They put him on his side and called for medical aid.”

The four officers involved have since been placed on administrative leave. Two are white, one is black and one is Asian.