Just about 2 miles from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) campus, Manuel “Manny” Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man was stopped while walking home by Tacoma Police Department (TPD) officers on March 3, 2020. They beat, tased, hogtied, applied a spit hood over his face then sat and knelt on his back and neck aided by additional Tacoma police officers before his death at the intersection of 9th and Ainsworth.
The historic trial of Tacoma officers charged in Manny Ellis’ death is coming to a close after over two months of expert and eye-witness testimonies, thousands of pages of evidence, graphic video evidence, contradictory defense testimony, and multiple failed attempts by the defense to have the case dismissed.
The events leading up to Ellis’ death vary based on who tells the story. TPD officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, who are white, are charged with first-degree and second-degree murder and were the first officers to contact Ellis. Burbank and Collins claim that Ellis was standing in the intersection attempting to open car doors and attacked them unprovoked using “super-human” strength. No camera evidence exists to substantiate these claims as TPD officers are not required to wear them.
The defense claims that the use of force performed by the officers charged in Ellis’ death was appropriate for the circumstances despite video evidence and witness testimony contradicting their stories about the event. The defense argues that the primary cause of Ellis’ death was a pre-existing heart condition and large amounts of methamphetamine in his system, which was reported as being enough to have killed a man in a toxicology report.
Officials reported Ellis to have been in a state of “excited delirium,” which contributed to Ellis’ death. Excited delirium is “broadly defined as being in a highly agitated and combative state,” according to the American Medical Association (AMA). Excited delirium has often been associated with drugs, mental health crises, and when under restraint by police. Symptoms can look like someone acting bizarre, violent, possessing superhuman strength, heart failure, and sometimes suddenly dying because their heart stops.
The AMA has come out in opposition of excited delirium “as a medical diagnosis and warns against the use of certain pharmacological interventions solely for a law enforcement purpose without a legitimate medical reason.”
The prosecution, led by the Washington State Attorney General’s office, has cited the Pierce County medical examiners’ initial findings which determined that Ellis’ died from a form of oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint and ruled it a homicide. The prosecution claims that all three officers heard Ellis’ cries of distress and exclamation that he could not breathe and should have immediately intervened and provided aid.
Officers have been required to provide aid to those they have shot or injured by using force since Initiative 940 became a State law in 2019.
The trial continued this morning, resulting in the end of closing arguments of the prosecution and defense. Defense for TPD officer Timothy Rankine and Matthew Collins, who, along with TPD officer Christopher Burbank, are all charged with first-degree murder, focused on how Ellis’ death was his own doing. Collins and Burbank are also charged with the more severe charge of second-degree murder.
The closing arguments reiterated that the officers acted with appropriate use of force and that Manny Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died in the custody of the three officers, died due to a lethal amount of Methamphetamine in his system compounded by a pre-existing heart condition and excited delirium.
Both Burbank and Collins claimed that Ellis didn’t say anything despite audio on a nearby home security camera capturing Collins responding to Ellis’ pleas for air “Shut the [expletive] up.” TPD officer Timothy Rankine, who is Asian American, told Ellis, “If you’re talking to me, you can breathe” while putting pressure on his back and neck. Rankine continued to put pressure on Ellis’ neck for over nine minutes while medics were en route.
This case is the first time the State Attorney General has criminally charged officers for using deadly force under I-940 and subsequently sets the precedent for similar cases in the future. I-940 requires that in cases where excessive use of force occurred, the “officer acted in good faith or reasonably under the circumstances.” Additionally, I-940 mandates an increase in de-escalation & mental health training, and an independent deadly force investigation must be conducted thereafter.
The prosecution and defense have both rested their cases, with closing arguments having begun this past Monday. Special prosecutor Patti Eakes told jurors in their closing argument that the defendants had denied Ellis “The most basic part of human existence: Breathe in, breathe out. It’s so basic that we don’t even think about it until we can’t breathe. And then, we fight for breath. We fight for breath because we want to live, because breath is life.”
Eakes emphasized that “Each of the defendants knew it was a risk because Manny Ellis told them over and over again that he couldn’t breathe. And each of the defendants chose to ignore him and let him die,” Wayne Fricke, representing officer Burbanks stated Tuesday, “This is a situation where [Ellis] created his own death. It was his behavior that forced the officers to use force against him.”
The verdict is expected to be released by the end of this week. All three officers have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail, and remain employed by the TPD on paid leave.
For more information on Manny Ellis’ story, the case, and trial updates, listen to KNKX’s podcast, The Walk Home, or visit KNKX.org
