TACOMA, Wash. — Defense cross-examined a cardiologist Thursday who attributed Manuel Ellis’ cause of death to restraint asphyxia, which he said led to heart failure. For the first time, jurors also heard one of the involved Tacoma officers recount moments from the March 3, 2020 night.
Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter has been a practicing cardiologist since the early 1980s and has his own private practice in Santa Monica, Calif. He was also a rotating emergency room cardiologist for 14 years.
On Wednesday, Wohlgelernter said the restraints Tacoma police put on Ellis, paired with an officer applying pressure to his back, meant he could not get enough oxygen to sustain his heart. Wohlgelernter said his conclusion was supported by a diagnosis of pulseless electrical activity (PEA), which is characteristic of oxygen deprivation.
On Thursday morning, defense attorneys questioned Wohlgelernter on what point Ellis would have been experiencing PEA, the timeline of when his pulse stopped, when CPR began and other arrhythmias that Ellis’ heart displayed that night.
Defense attorney Mark Conrad also noted that Ellis may have flatlined before experiencing PEA instead of the other way around. Wohlgelernter noted that as is often the case in an emergency, the timeline of what takes place over the course of a cardiac arrest can be imprecise, but whether Ellis flatlined before his heart registered PEA on an EKG did not change his conclusion: that Ellis died from oxygen deprivation, which led to heart failure.
“Whether asystole (flatlining) preceded PEA or PEA preceded asystole to me is irrelevant,” Wohlgelernter said. “… They’re all part of the same picture: hypoxia-induced cardiac arrest. And nothing else explains it. Methamphetamine would not do that. Underlining cardiac disease alone would not do that.”
Wohlgelernter did acknowledge that typically a person would flatline before they exhibit PEA.
The defense also returned to a previous line of questioning regarding Wohlgelernter's work as an expert witness on another case. In that case, he came to a similar conclusion about a man’s cause of death in police custody. They noted that some of his phrasing between the two reports was word-for-word the same, except for the different last names.
Wohlgelernter explained that there were fundamental similarities between the two cases, which was part of the reason that he was recommended as an expert witness to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in the first place.
Officer Timothy Rankine interview
On Thursday afternoon, Pierce County Sheriff Department Detective Byron Brockway was called to the stand.
State prosecutors asked Brockway a few preliminary questions before playing an interview he conducted with Rankine on March 6, 2020 - three days after the incident involving Ellis.
During the interview, Rankine explains he and his partner assisted officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank with a traffic stop. They then went separate ways.
Rankine and his partner were preparing to pull over a suspicious vehicle when they heard mic clicks over the radio. Dispatch asked for a response but didn't receive one. Then Rankine said he heard who he believed to be Burbank sounding "stressed and almost panicked."
Rankine and his partner turned around and drove to the location of Collins and Burbank, Rankine told Brockway during their interview.
Rankine said he was worried the worst had happened and that the officers had been shot.
Rankine said he did not recall seeing emergency lights on Burbank and Collins' SUV as they arrived. He said he saw three people 10 to 15 feet in front of the patrol vehicle when they approached the intersection of South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South.
Rankine said Ellis was already on his stomach, with Burbank on his upper body and Collins attempting to secure Ellis' legs. Rankine said the two were struggling to detain Ellis, who was "kicking" and "bucking" as he went to help.
Rankine explained he worked with Burbank to control the upper half of Ellis' body. Around this time, Burbank tasered Ellis' chest.
At one point, Rankine told the Pierce County detective, he moved all his weight to the middle of Ellis' body, putting his right knee just below his neck.
Rankine said Ellis continued to resist and he was worried that the encounter "might not end well for all of us" due to the fact that Ellis was still able to resist the officers.
Eventually, seated on Ellis' back, Rankine said he heard Ellis say he couldn't breathe. Rankine said he countered, explaining if he could talk, that wasn't true. Rankine said he told Ellis he'd release some pressure if Ellis stopped struggling.
At some point, a hobble restraint was placed on Ellis, though Rankine said he didn't know who put it on him.
When backup arrived, Rankine said he continued to control Ellis while Burbank and Collins spoke with a police sergeant.
Tacoma Fire was called to the scene.
Rankine told the detective during the interview that Ellis' breathing hadn't changed and he saw his chest rise and fall as Tacoma Fire drove to the scene. He said Ellis' pulse was "quite normal."
Rankine said it appeared Tacoma Fire personnel were acting like it was a priority call. Lt. Nicholas Wilson, a 12-year veteran of Tacoma Fire, previously told the court he was called to the scene just before 11:30 p.m. and arrived about seven minute later. Wilson said that when he arrived, he could already tell Ellis wasn't breathing.
Personnel, according to Rankine, told officers to remove the hobble and handcuffs before cutting Ellis' clothes open to attach leads to his body. Another officer started CPR before Rankine took over, he said.
Rankine said firefighters gave Ellis several doses of epinephrine. Paramedics then took over the effort to keep Ellis alive, Rankine said.
Background on the case
On March 3, 2020, Ellis was walking home when he stopped to speak with Tacoma Police Officers Burbank and Collins, who were in their patrol car, according to probable cause documents.
Witnesses said Ellis turned to walk away, but the officers got out of their car and knocked Ellis to his knees. All witnesses told investigators they did not see Ellis strike the officers.
Other responding officers told investigators that Burbank and Collins reported Ellis was “goin’ after a car” in the intersection and punched the patrol car's windows.
Witness video shows officers repeatedly hitting Ellis. Collins put Ellis into a neck restraint, and Burbank tasered Ellis’ chest, according to prosecutors.
Home security camera footage captured Ellis saying, “Can’t breathe, sir. Can’t breathe."
Timothy Rankine, who was the first backup officer to arrive, applied pressure to Ellis' back and held him in place while Ellis was "hogtied" with a hobble, according to documents.
When the fire department arrived, Ellis was “unconscious and unresponsive,” according to documents.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled Ellis' death a homicide. According to the autopsy report, Ellis also had a fatal amount of methamphetamine in his system.
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