TACOMA, Wash. — The defense continued their examination of a police use of force expert in the trial of three Tacoma police officers charged in Manuel Ellis’ death on Monday.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in Tacoma police custody following a confrontation with officers on the night of March 3, 2020. Three Tacoma police officers, Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine, face charges in his death.
Chris Nielsen is a training sergeant for the Renton Police Department. Nielsen is also a licensed attorney and previously worked in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for six years prior to becoming an officer.
During his previous testimony, Nielsen said he found all force used by the officers against Manuel Ellis to be appropriate. On Monday, he provided more clarity as to how he came to that conclusion, citing that he found the officers’ accounts of the confrontation between themselves and Ellis to be credible based on other objective evidence, including eyewitness videos and photographs collected at the scene.
The testimony addressed what is a fundamental point of contention between the state and the defense: whether Collins and Burbank were responding to a threat at all when they hit and restrained Ellis; actions the former Pierce County medical examiner says led to his death.
The officers say that when they arrived at the intersection of South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South, Ellis was in the intersection interfering with a car that was making a left turn. They allege that after a brief conversation, Ellis beat the passenger side of the patrol car and threw Collins onto the ground.
The statements of Collins and Burbank have been contradicted by eyewitnesses to the confrontation, who testified that they saw what they believed was the beginning of the interaction between police and Ellis. Sara McDowell and Seth Cowden, two bystanders who captured video of the confrontation between Ellis and police, said they saw Ellis walking down the street when it appeared he was called to the passenger side window of the patrol car. McDowell said Ellis was then knocked over by the passenger side door, and then both officers got out of the car and began to beat him.
Nielsen pointed to a photo of white residue on the passenger side window of the patrol car as a key piece of evidence that lent credibility to Collins’ and Burbanks’ recollections about the night Manuel Ellis died. Nielsen said he surmised that the substance was powdered sugar based on the fact that there was a box of donuts photographed on the ground next to the patrol car that Ellis had just purchased from a nearby 7-Eleven. The defense has pointed to that photo as evidence that Ellis did beat the patrol car window, as Collins and Burbank said, suggesting the powdered sugar must have transferred from Ellis’ hands.
During direct examination Monday, Nielsen also said he didn’t believe it was always necessary for officers to evaluate people in their custody after they say they can’t breathe. Nielsen said following the death of Eric Garner, a man who said he couldn’t breathe 11 times while he was being held in a chokehold and pressed to the ground by NYPD officers and died as a result of police restraint, that it was more common for suspects to say they couldn’t breathe while in police custody. Ellis’ attempts to tell officers he couldn’t breathe were caught on a nearby home security camera and Rankine, by his own admission, heard Ellis. Rankine said Ellis was speaking in a calm voice, which he took to mean Ellis was fine.
A use of force expert testifying on behalf of the state said it’s necessary for officers to take statements like Ellis’ seriously, and that the officers had the responsibility to get Ellis evaluated by medical aid immediately.
During his afternoon testimony, Nielsen told the court he believes the force used by officers to restrain Ellis was appropriate because Ellis "clearly wasn't under control." It would have been inappropriate for officers to put him in handcuffs and then stand back because Ellis could have continued to pose a threat to himself or others, Nielsen said. Nielsen pointed out that there doesn't have to be an immediate threat to justify restraining someone - though the force needs to be reasonable to the situation.
Nielsen added that once police intervene in a situation, they become responsible for the safety of those involved.
As far has whether or not it was appropriate to handcuff or use a hobble to further control Ellis, Nielsen said it was not unreasonable. Those devices, he said, typically don't result in injury, at least none that require medical attention.
Furthermore, he said adding pressure to someone's back has a low likelihood of a "bad outcome." He said while all uses of force have the potential to injure someone, that doesn't make them inappropriate in the right situations.
Rankine, who was the first backup officer to arrive, applied pressure to Ellis' back and held him in place while Ellis was restrained. Nielsen said that use of force would be on the lower end of the spectrum.
Another juror excused from the case
A second juror was excused from jury service on Monday after their car was damaged, but not without objections from the defense.
The defense requested to provide transportation for the juror, saying they would pay to send an Uber to that juror's location for the rest of the week. Defense counsel Mark Conrad said some of the jury members had certain life experiences that were important to both the prosecution and the defense.
The state said they preferred to move forward, citing the court's previous decision to excuse a juror who came down with COVID-19 and proceed without them.
The judge declined the defense's offer to pay for the juror's transportation, saying it would be problematic, and elected to move forward.
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.