Defense attorneys for the Tacoma police officers on trial for the in-custody death of a Black man cross-examined prosecutors’ forensic video expert Thursday morning.
Attorneys for officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins pressed forensic video expert Grant Fredericks on how Manuel Ellis’ reacted in the seconds before he was first shocked with a Taser, and they questioned him about what can be heard in video of Ellis’ encounter with the officers.
Ellis, 33, died of oxygen deprivation after encountering police the night of March 3, 2020, the Pierce County medical examiner ruled. Prosecutors with the Washington attorney General’s Office have said officers attacked and restrained Ellis without justification. Defense attorneys say the officers simply responded after Ellis attacked their patrol car, and they have focused on the high amount of methamphetamine in his system as an explanation for his death.
Collins, 40, Burbank, 38 and the third officer charged, Timothy Rankine, 34, remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave while they’re on trial. Collins and Burbank are charged with second-degree murder; all three officers are charged with first-degree manslaughter. They have all pleaded not guilty.
After prosecutors on Wednesday elicited testimony from Fredericks saying Ellis had his hands in the air before Burbank shot his Taser at him, Wayne Fricke, an attorney for the officer, asked Fredericks if a single frame showing Ellis in that position could be misleading.
“It means nothing unless you have it in context,” Fricke said while he asked the question.
The expert witness disagreed, telling jurors there were two times where Ellis raised his hands, palms out, in front of his body. Fricke went on to ask Fredericks when Ellis put his hands down, and how much time passed until the first Taser was shot. Fredericks said it was 3.3 seconds.
“Almost simultaneously,” Fricke said.
“3.3 seconds,” Fredericks replied.
Jared Ausserer, an attorney for Collins, questioned Fredericks next, asking him if he could hear someone growl and say, “Try it again,” before Burbank shocked Ellis with a Taser a second time, which was shown in a delivery driver’s eyewitness video of the incident. The expert witness said he didn’t know if he’d characterize the sound as a growl and wasn’t sure what was said.
“I heard the word ‘try,’” Fredericks said. “But is he saying, ‘I’m trying,’ or ‘Try it again,’ I don’t know.”
Earlier in the morning, Fricke questioned Fredericks about a 27-minute gap in doorbell security video of the street corner where Ellis encountered the officers — 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue in Tacoma — and his methodology for determining a timeline of the events that occurred that night.
Defense attorneys played the first clip from that doorbell video for jurors, which showed a quiet street and a few cars driving by. Fredericks agreed with Fricke that 27 minutes passed until the doorbell started recording again and showed officers’ patrol cars and other witnesses already on the scene. Fricke said that means no video shows Ellis walking down the street or Collins’ and Burbank’s initial encounter with him. Fredericks agreed.
Prosecutors will continue to question Fredericks on Thursday afternoon in re-direct examination. Ellis’ sister and mother, Monét Carter-Mixon and Marcia Carter-Patterson, are scheduled to testify next for the prosecution.
The News Tribune and Seattle Times are working together to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of this trial. This report was compiled by Peter Talbot of The News Tribune.
This story was originally published October 5, 2023, 12:27 PM.
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Peter Talbot is a criminal justice reporter for The News Tribune. He started with the newspaper in 2021. Before that, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. In college, he worked as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C. He also interned for the Oregonian and the Tampa Bay Times.
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