TACOMA, Wash. — Defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt on an eyewitness' testimony during cross-examination Wednesday in the trial for the death of Manuel Ellis.
Ellis died on March 3, 2020 after a confrontation with the officers.
Officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins are charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Officer Timothy Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter.
The defense spent Wednesday morning asking Sara McDowell about discrepancies between her testimony on Tuesday and what she had previously told investigators and attorneys about the night Ellis died.
McDowell, who took cellphone video showing officers restraining and hitting Ellis, said Ellis was attacked by police and that Ellis did not fight back or struggle against them. The defense alleges Ellis was physically fighting against and threatening the officers.
Defense attorney Jared Ausserer, who is representing Collins, focused on whether or not the officer on the driver's side of the patrol car body-slammed Ellis to the ground before the officer on the passenger side began to hit him, as McDowell said on Tuesday.
Per McDowell's previous statements to investigators and attorneys, the officer on the passenger side of the vehicle got out of the car first and began to hit Ellis as he lay on the ground.
Ausserer argued if Ellis was already on the ground being hit by the passenger of the patrol car, then the officer on the driver's side could not have body-slammed him.
In response, McDowell said she may have confused the two officers in her initial interviews, but she stuck by her testimony on Tuesday where she said Ellis had been knocked over by the passenger side door of the vehicle and gotten to his feet before the driver of the patrol car slammed him on the ground. Then, McDowell said that's when the officer in the passenger side of the car got on top of Ellis and began beating him.
The defense then turned to comments McDowell had left on several news outlets' Facebook posts and posts she shared to her own Facebook page following her interview with James Bible, the attorney for Ellis' family, in June of 2020. On several posts, McDowell commented that Ellis was not high on drugs during the confrontation, that Ellis did not do anything wrong and that justice would be served in his death.
Defense attorneys noted that McDowell also confronted a woman on social media who was connected to the man who bailed the Tacoma officers out of jail after they were officially booked on charges. McDowell said she was upset that the officers had been released. She noted that Ellis' death was greatly upsetting to her, and she was hurt and angry with people lying about what she said and what she saw that night.
McDowell was also asked why she went on local and national media to talk about the case.
“Because what I had seen wasn’t OK,” she said on Wednesday. “And I wanted my truth to get out there. I wanted the Ellis family to get answers.”
McDowell added that, “the whole thing, after finding out that he died, it really messed with me and so, all I wanted was for, like I said, my truth to get out there, and for the Ellis family to get answers that they deserve.”
An audio expert was expected to testify, but was delayed by the judge until a later date due to concerns from the defense counsel about certain verbiage in the provided audio transcripts.
Instead, the state called Jacob Atzet, a death investigator with the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office, to the stand. Atzet responded to the scene shortly after 3 a.m. on March 4, just a few hours after police made contact with Ellis.
Atzet documented the scene, but he was not responsible for making the determination of Ellis’ death, which is done by a pathologist. Prior to arriving at the scene, Atzet told the court he reviewed Ellis’ medical history – as he does with any case when possible in order to learn about any underlying conditions.
At the scene, Atzet took notes, photographed Ellis and the scene and transported Ellis' body back to the medical examiner's office.
Notes from his initial report, which Atzet read aloud in court, stated Ellis “attacked TPD patrol car, no firearm, excited delirium, handcuffed, unresponsive.” Additional information from law enforcement in Atzet’s initial report includes: “two officers, two responded after, hobble (hogtie) canvas, cuffed, actively fighting, all outdoor, unresponsive while cuffed.”
Atzet said it was his first time hearing the word “hobble” and law enforcement told him the word “hogtie” to clarify. Ellis’ arms were handcuffed and his legs were tied with a canvas strap, Atzet said.
He testified that he did not include the word hogtie in his final report because the final documents go to the families and the medical examiner’s officer uses professional terminology.
Atzet will take the stand at 9 a.m. Wednesday when the trial resumes.
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.