TACOMA, Wash. — A witness to the confrontation between two Tacoma police officers and Manuel Ellis recalled hearing Ellis say he couldn't breathe six to eight times. Later on Thursday afternoon, a forensic video analyst showed jurors a frame-by-frame video of the confrontation involving Tacoma officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in police custody in March 2020 following that confrontation with officers.
Three officers face charges in Ellis' death. Officers Burbank and Collins are charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Officer Timothy Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Thursday marked day 11 of the trial.
Frame-by-frame video of confrontation
Grant Fredericks, an expert for the state on forensic video analysis, took the stand again on Thursday. He showed jurors an exhibit that shows the camera perspectives and distances in the area of all the witnesses’ videos from March 3, 2020.
It shows a Google Earth overview with overlay of witness Sara McDowell’s perspective from behind the officers’ vehicle, witness Seth Cowden’s perspective arriving at the scene via Ainsworth Avenue and witness Aiyana Mallang’s perspective from her front doorbell camera facing the intersection.
Fredericks said the map is the primary view each camera showed during the incident and that it is possible a witness could’ve seen something different if not looking in the direction of their camera. He said it is not a speed estimation nor is it revealing what happened on scene.
Jurors were also shown a magnified and stabilized video of McDowell’s viewpoint from behind the police car. In order to identify who is who officer-wise in the video, Fredericks made arrows to track their movements in the video.
While there is no manipulation of the video, Fredericks broke McDowell’s video down frame by frame to better show the jury the positions of Collins, Burbank and Ellis.
Fredericks showed where both officers were standing as they began hitting and restraining Ellis. At one point, Fredericks said, both of Ellis’ feet can be seen off the ground.
Fredericks’ testimony and cross-examination resume on Monday morning.
Witness says she heard Ellis repeat he couldn't breathe
On the stand Wednesday, Aiyana Mallang told the jury that she saw Ellis get tased in the street right outside her house, and heard Ellis pleading with officers to stop. She also said she heard Ellis telling officers that he couldn't breathe. Mallang said she saw one officer punch and kick Ellis while he was on the ground.
On the witness stand Thursday, defense attorneys asked Mallang in more detail about how many times she heard Ellis say he couldn't breathe. Mallang recalled hearing him say it in "two sets." In each set, he said it three to four times.
She said both sets occurred before other responding officers got to the scene. After other police units arrived, she said she didn't hear anything else from Ellis.
The defense also questioned Mallang about how much she saw of the confrontation between police and Ellis from her house.
Mallang said she could see what was going on the front driver's side of the car, but not on the front passenger side. She also said she did not see how Ellis fell to the ground, but she assumed it was over the course of the altercation.
Defense attorney Wayne Fricke quoted Mallang as saying in a previous interview that she didn't see the officer's kick make contact with Ellis' body. Referring to that interview transcript, Mallang said she did not see where the kick landed, but that it clearly made contact and she knew Ellis was lying on the ground.
Mallang is the fourth eyewitness to testify for the state about the night Ellis died. All eyewitnesses so far have said that Ellis did not hit or fight back against the police during the confrontation. All four are integral to the state's argument that the officers' actions toward Ellis that night were not warranted, and the officers were not justified in causing Ellis' death.
More eyewitnesses are expected to testify for the defense. Two men are expected to say they saw police struggling against Ellis and that Ellis was putting up a fight. The defense argues that the officers were afraid for their lives during the confrontation with Ellis.
One of those witnesses is Mallang's brother. The defense asked Mallang on Thursday if she thought her brother may have had a better perspective on the confrontation between police and Ellis than she did, and Mallang said she did not think so.
Videos of 96th and Ainsworth, photos of the officers shown in court
A former forensic manager for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department (PCSD) was the next witness to be called to the stand on Thursday.
PCSD was the initial agency to investigate what happened between the Tacoma officers and Ellis, however, the investigation was reassigned to the Washington State Patrol before being taken up by the state.
Steven Wilkins worked for the PCSD for 30 years and spent 17 of those years managing forensic investigators, forensic techs and office staff. His unit responds to homicides, shootings, robberies with injuries and other serious crimes.
Wilkins was on call the night that Ellis died. He arrived at the scene at around 1:13 a.m. and took establishing videos and photos of the scene at South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South.
Wilkins then took photos of Collins, Burbank, Rankine and Rankine's partner at a PSCD precinct in Spanaway along with two other law enforcement officials from the sheriff's department. He took full-body photos from the front, back, and both sides.
Wilkins took close-up pictures of a cut to Collins' thumb, another cut to one of his knuckles, his shattered watch face and a scrape on his elbow.
There were also photos of both Collins' and Burbank's left and right knees. Wilkins said he did not see either Burbank or Collins bleeding.
The state noted that Wilkins took all four officers' Tasers, Ellis' EBT card and cellphone and a pair of gloves into evidence. Wilkins said he was given the EBT card and cellphone by a PCSD lieutenant on the scene. He did not get to see or photograph where those items were originally.
During cross-examination, the defense showed Wilkins a picture of the Tacoma police car that Collins and Burbank were driving that night that was taken by Wilkins' colleague. Wilkins noted there was a white smudge on the window and that Ellis' box of donuts could also be seen in the photo.
The defense has previously claimed that the smudge is from Ellis striking the police car. However, eyewitnesses to the confrontation have said they did not see Ellis strike the vehicle.
Wilkins was asked to describe each of the officers' demeanors when he came in contact with them the night of the incident, and he described all of the officers as being "respectful, reserved” and professional.
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."
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.
KING 5 will stream gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial from opening to closing statements. Follow live coverage and watch videos on demand on king5.com, KING 5+ and the KING 5 YouTube channel.