TACOMA, Wash. — One of three police officers charged with killing Manuel Ellis, a Black man whose 2020 death while pleading for air became a touchstone for racial justice protesters in the Pacific Northwest, took the witness stand Monday in his own defense, saying that he complained to Ellis. ' over, but wouldn't have done anything differently.
Tacoma Police Officer Matthew Collins' testimony came as the more than two-month trial moved toward closing arguments.
Collins, 40, and Christopher Burbank, 38, have been charged with murder and manslaughter, while Timothy Rankine, 34, is charged with manslaughter. All three officers have pleaded not guilty, are out on bail and remain on paid leave with the Tacoma Police Department.
Ellis was shocked with a Taser, beaten and tied face down on a sidewalk in Tacoma, with police on top of him as he begged for air. The Pierce County medical examiner ruled Ellis' death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation, but attorneys for the officers say high levels of methamphetamine in Ellis' system and a heart defect were the causes.
Witnesses — one of whom shouted for the officers to stop assaulting Ellis — and a doorbell surveillance camera captured video of parts of the encounter on the night of March 3, 2020. The video showed Ellis with his hands up in a surrender position as Burbank shot one shot. Tasered Ellis' chest and Collins wrapped an arm around his neck from behind. It also caught Ellis addressing officers as “sir” while repeatedly telling them he couldn't breathe.
Collins testified that he never heard Ellis say that and that even if he had, he wouldn't have done anything differently.
“Anything anyone would say to us until he or she obeyed us, hands behind their backs (down to the cuffs), would be irrelevant to me,” Collins said, according to a pool report of the trial by The Seattle Times.
During cross-examination, Special Prosecutor Patty Eakes confronted Collins about a portion of the recording in which he used an expletive when telling Ellis to shut up after Ellis asked for air. Collins said he only heard “animal noises” from Ellis and suffered from “auditory exclusion”: not hearing sounds during a stressful situation.
Collins closely followed his earlier statements about the fatal encounter: that Ellis initiated it by lifting Collins off the ground and throwing him through the air to land on his back.
No one else interviewed by detectives witnessed that, including Collins' co-defendant, Christopher Burbank. Eyewitnesses stated that Collins and Burbank were the initial aggressors.
Collins called Ellis' death “the worst thing that could happen” for police.
“In this case, Manny was undoubtedly wrong, but ultimately his mother lost a child and his sister lost a brother,” Collins said.
He also said the incident changed his life in ways he couldn't imagine. “I never thought in my wildest nightmares that the state would come after us for this,” he said.
Their lawsuit marks the first courtroom test of a voter-approved police accountability measure in Washington state that would remove legal barriers to charging police officers for on-duty deaths.
Collins and Burbank said in statements to detectives that Ellis threatened to punch Burbank and slammed his hand into their police cruiser, so Burbank knocked Ellis to the ground with his car door, starting what Collins described as a “fight.”
Rankine and his partner were the first backup officers to arrive on the scene. Rankine told detectives he sat on Ellis' back until doctors arrived, even after Ellis said he couldn't breathe.
On the stand Monday, Collins said he interpreted Ellis' “body language” as a sign that he was aggressively focusing on Burbank, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the patrol cruiser Collins was driving. Collins said he went outside to confront Ellis.
“As soon as I get to the front of the vehicle, he takes his attention off Burbank and comes right up to me, picks me up by my vest and throws me back into the intersection,” Collins said, describing what no one else near the car did. scene has witnessed seeing. He claimed Ellis also hit him, something no witnesses saw. Photos of Collins after the incident showed no injuries.
By the time paramedics arrived, Ellis had been struck by fists and elbows, placed in a neck hold, shaken three times with a Taser, handcuffed with ankle hocks strapped to his wrists behind his back, had a nylon spit hood placed over his face and was kneeled or sat on by several officers. Collins testified that he never expected Ellis to die the night they wrestled.