TACOMA, Wash. — On Wednesday, Tacoma Officer Masyih Ford, former partner of Officer Timothy Rankine, appeared on the witness stand in the trial for the death of Manuel Ellis.
He spoke about his involved in restraining Ellis the night of his death, his friendships with the charged officers and what he would've done differently on the night of Ellis' death.
Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter in Ellis’ death. Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank are charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man died in Tacoma police custody after a confrontation with the officers.
Where did Officer Timothy Rankine apply pressure on Ellis’ back? He and his former partner’s statements don’t agree
The force applied by Rankine to Ellis’ back on the night he died was figured by multiple medical experts as a contributing cause to his death, saying the pressure likely limited Ellis’ ability to expand his chest cavity and inhale enough oxygen to keep his body functioning.
Ellis’ official cause of death was ruled a homicide by the former Pierce County Medical Examiner, caused by hypoxia due to the constellation of restraint methods used against him by Tacoma police officers.
On the night he died, eyewitnesses recall seeing Ellis walking down the street near the intersection of South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South on the night of March 3, 2020, when he was beckoned over to a police car idling at the intersection. One witness said she saw Ellis get knocked over by the passenger side door of the cruiser as he turned to walk away, then saw the officers get out of the car and start beating him.
Conversely, Burbank and Collins alleged Ellis was the one to initiate the confrontation, saying he came over to their patrol car, and after a short exchange of words, began beating on the passenger-side door.
Rankine and Ford were the first two officers to show up as backup after several mic clicks from Burbank went out over the radio, and they failed to respond to dispatch. Ford said mic clicks typically indicate an officer is fighting with or struggling against someone. Ford recalled he then heard Burbank’s voice go out over the radio screaming their location, sounding "scared."
“They’re an incredibly capable two-officer car,” Ford said of Burbank and Collins. “People always talk about they can handle pretty much anything and I’ve seen it. When I heard officer Burbank scream on the radio ‘96th and Ainsworth,’ like, I’ve never heard his voice even go to [those] octaves. I was pretty freaked out.”
When Ford and Rankine got to the location, he recalled Collins and Burbank were restraining Ellis. Ford said Ellis, while handcuffed and pressed to the ground, bucked or thrashed enough to move the officers a couple of feet, but that most of the struggle remained close to the curb.
Ford said he jumped in to help restrain Ellis’ legs while Rankine went to help Burbank with Ellis’ torso.
When defense attorney Anne Bremner asked how difficult it was to control Ellis while he was restrained in hobbles, Ford said “it wasn’t difficult at all really.” As he was restrained, Ford explained how Ellis was “thrashing” and moving his legs in a kicking motion, but did not kick any of the involved officers. Ford said he recalls using all his pressure to push Ellis' legs, while hobbled, closer to his backside as he was thrashing.
In the days after Ellis’ death, Rankine admitted to a Pierce County Sheriff’s detective he applied pressure to Ellis’ back in order to further restrain him, saying at one point he moved his weight to the middle of Ellis’ body, with his right knee just below his neck.
On the witness stand Wednesday, Ford contradicted that statement, saying if Rankine did apply pressure to Ellis’ back, it would have been to his shoulder blade like they are taught in police training. Ford said multiple times he did not witness Rankine use any force he would consider inappropriate or excessive.
In his interview with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Rankine admitted he was sitting on Ellis’ back when he heard Ellis say he could not breathe. Rankine said if Ellis could talk, then that was not true. Rankine told Ellis if he stopped struggling, Rankine would ease up on some of the pressure on his back, according to his recorded interview.
Defense attorney for Rankine, Anne Bremner, shied away from asking Ford how long Rankine was on Ellis’ back. Estimates have oscillated throughout the trial from between four and six minutes. A medical expert testifying for the state said oxygen deprivation resulting in brain damage could have occurred in just over four minutes.
'If you can talk, you can breathe,' Ford recalls someone telling Ellis
Ford testified on Wednesday that he heard Ellis say "I can't breathe" once during the struggle to restrain him, in the presence of Collins and Rankine. To this, he said someone on scene responded to Ellis saying, "if you can talk, you can breathe." Ford said he does not know who said it, but that it was said in a sarcastic tone and that it annoyed him.
Ford testified that he ran to retrieve the Tacoma Fire Department medics who responded to the scene, telling them he thought Ellis was possibly suffering from excited delirium, a condition debunked by several expert medical witnesses, and that Ellis was unresponsive.
When asked by Prosecuting Attorney Patty Eakes if he thought it was important to tell responding Tacoma Fire Department medics that Ellis said he could not breathe, Ford said: “In hindsight, yes.”
Ford said he personally did not remove Ellis’ hobble or handcuffs and that Ellis was not unclipped until medics arrived on scene and until then, nobody had started CPR.
When asked how long a person in handcuffs should be left face down, Ford responded with "almost never."
Ford said within reason, it is TPD policy for officers to use additional training outside the scope of what is taught during their academy and department training, such as martial arts.
Ford described Burbank as a “incredibly capable,” “calm” and “respectful” officer, who trained him for four weeks when he began with the department in 2019. Ford described Collins to have martial arts training, as a very capable officer, and as treating citizens with respect and that he has seen Collins use force, but never thought a time was inappropriate.
As a fellow officer, Ford said his social and professional friendships with Rankine, Collins and Burbank do not interfere with his ability to provide an honest testimony.
He said the officers have a duty to correct one another if an officer’s actions are out of line and “if the situation arose, we would absolutely do that,” Ford said.
Ford testified that he never saw a spit hood on Ellis, and that he never saw Ellis spit, kick or strike any of the involved officers. He said Ellis never threatened the involved officers and that no weapons were found on Ellis.
Juror member out with COVID – trial proceeds anyway
At the beginning of the morning court session Wednesday, Judge Bryan Chushcoff announced that a juror had tested positive for COVID-19. Chushcoff said the other jurors were feeling reasonably well, so they would move forward with the trial barring any objections from the other jury members.
The Health Department agreed to come to the courthouse to test the remaining jurors for COVID, but it was agreed the trial would proceed in the meantime.
The state expressed several concerns about the other jurors potentially becoming sick, citing Ellis’ sister and mother are immunocompromised and would like to be present in the trial. The judge said he could not control what microbes were present in the courtroom.
Rapid tests were provided to jurors at noon and by the time the afternoon session began, four tests had returned and all were negative. Judge Chushcoff said rapid tests would be available to anyone in the courtroom who wanted to test.
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 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 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.