The family of Manuel Ellis is claiming that they are the victims of witness intimidation as the trial of the police officers charged with killing the 33-year-old gets underway.
Ellis died in police custody after being beaten, shocked, choked, hogtied and had a spit mask placed over his head while being detained on a Tacoma, Washington, street on March 3, 2020.
The Seattle Times reports that Ellis’ mother, Marcia Carter-Patterson, reported she was “scared, very scared” before taking the witness stand on Monday during the trial of 40-year-old Matthew Collins, Christopher “Shane” Burbank, 38, and 34-year-old Timothy Rankine on Monday.
The three police officers are on trial for first-degree manslaughter in connection to Ellis’ death, with Collins and Burbank also charged with second-degree murder. The three men are out on bond and receiving paid leave, and Carter-Patterson told the Times that she found a tracking device on her vehicle last week.
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The mother said she noticed the tracker when it fell off of her car as she was getting out on Oct. 6, just days after opening statements in the trial were heard on Oct. 3. The attorney general’s office sent an investigator to pick up the tracker, and Carter-Patterson said that she was now staying with relatives as the trial continues because she is afraid. Carter-Patterson said her vehicle has since had two tires slashed. The three officers’ attorneys deny their clients knew about the device or slashed tires.
Ellis’ sister, Monèt Carter-Mixon, said the tire slashing and tracking device is “witness intimidation.”
“What has my mother done to deserve this, besides have a dead son?” she told the newspaper.
Despite several witnesses saying Ellis was not aggressive during the arrest, the three officers have claimed he had “superhuman strength” when they accosted him, causing them to use a Taser, choke and punch Ellis as well as hogtie him…
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