TACOMA, Wash. — On Monday, Matthew Collins, one of three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis, described Ellis’ death as a tragedy, but also said there’s nothing he believes he could have done differently.
Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in Tacoma police custody after a confrontation with officers. Collins and his partner, Christopher Burbank, are charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Officer Timothy Rankine, who provided backup, is charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Collins appeared on the stand during the morning court session to testify in his own defense. Collins joined the Tacoma Police Department in 2015 after a stint in the Army. The line of questioning touched on his decades of experience with hand-to-hand combat, including as a defense tactics instructor for other police officers.
As the line of questioning from his defense attorney, Jared Ausserer, turned toward the night Manuel Ellis died, Ausserer asked Collins how Ellis’ death impacted him.
“For police officers, it’s the worst thing that can happen,” Collins said. “In this case, undoubtedly, Manny was in the wrong, but at the end of the day, his mother lost a child, and his sister lost a brother and human life is a precious thing.”
Collins and Burbank maintain that it was Ellis who was the aggressor on the night he died. This is despite eyewitness accounts that Ellis was calmly walking down the street and was beckoned to the passenger side door of the police cruiser before the officers instigated the confrontation.
When did Collins and Burbank arrive at 96th and Ainsworth?
Collins’ attorney began the discussion of that night, March 3, 2020, by attempting to muddy the timeline of when the officers got to the intersection. In previous expert testimony, Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst, estimated that the officers got to the intersection of South 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue South just over one minute before a home security camera captured the confrontation between the officers and Ellis on video. This was based on a CAD report showing when Collins and Burbank had cleared a previous traffic stop nearby.
Collins said he and Burbank were already at the intersection when they marked that they had cleared their previous call. Collins claimed he saw Ellis in the intersection attempting to enter the passenger side door of a car that was taking a left turn. The driver of that car has never been found, despite an attempt to do so by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Collins recalled calling Ellis over to the patrol car to ask him what he was doing. Ellis allegedly said, “I’m having a bad night, I got warrants,” before Collins directed Ellis to go sit on the sidewalk. Collins then said Ellis went around to the passenger side door of the patrol car and started beating the window after a brief exchange with Burbank.
Collins describes the events of March 3
During direct examination, Ausserer took Collins through the confrontation, asking him to describe the reasoning behind the actions he took that night.
In a previous interview with PCSD, Collins described the confrontation that followed as a “melee,” saying Ellis attempted to attack both himself and Burbank despite several attempts to subdue him, including a failed LVNR chokehold and three Taser applications. Despite decades of hand-to-hand combat training, Collins recalled having difficulty getting Ellis under control with the help of his fellow officer.
Collins demonstrated how to perform an LVNR chokehold on his other defense attorney, Casey Arbenz, in front of the jury. He explained that he wasn’t able to fully initiate the hold that night because he backed off once he saw Burbank pointing a Taser at Ellis’ chest.
Collins said their ultimate goal was to get Ellis to the ground. He explained that the only safe way to handcuff a non-compliant subject is on the ground, saying the situation is too dynamic on foot.
“He’s a danger to the public, he’s a danger to himself and us, so he has to go in cuffs,” Collins said.
Once the handcuffs were applied, Collins said Ellis continued to struggle against them, and it was too dangerous to let him get up. Collins described attempting to cross Ellis’ legs and put his weight on them to restrict his movement until backup arrived.
When asked, Collins said there was much going on that night that he was not aware of, including Ellis attempting to tell officers that he couldn’t breathe, which was picked up on home security camera video. Collins said he was also not aware of himself telling Ellis to put his hands behind his back and did not hear Sara McDowell screaming at him and Burbank.
An officer was caught on camera telling Ellis to “Shut the f*** up.” Collins said he did not remember saying that, but if it was either him or Burbank, he believed it would have been him.
When Burbank and Collins were removed from restraining Ellis and speaking to their commanding officer, Collins said he had no inkling that Ellis would die a short time later.
Before the court adjourned for lunch, Ausserer asked Collins, “Was there anything else that you think you could have done with a lesser degree of force to restrain and control Mr. Ellis?”
“No,” Collins said.
During cross-examination Monday afternoon, state prosecutors asked Collins about his medical response training both during his time in the military and with the police department. When asked why he didn't immediately relay to paramedics that Ellis may have been suffering from "excited delirium," Collins said it wasn't immediately clear to him due to the nature of the situation.
Prosecutors also pointed out that Collins called Ellis over to the police vehicle, in which he and Burbank remained seated inside. Collins said though every situation is different, it's typically not best practice for police to interact with unknown people while seated in a vehicle because of how vulnerable they are.
Collins said that, at the time, he wasn't sure what he had witnessed when Ellis approached the vehicle in the intersection. Collins said he told Ellis to sit on the sidewalk, but before that happened, Ellis fixated on Burbank. Collins said Burbank spoke with Ellis before Ellis punched the passenger window. Prosecutors pointed out that throughout that interaction, the incident was not radioed in.
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.