No excessive force history for police involved in death of Manuel Ellis, records show
The Tacoma police officers involved in the death of Manuel Ellis have no history of using excessive force on the job, according to personnel records.
Christopher Burbank, 34; Matthew Collins, 37; Masyih Ford, 28; and Timothy Rankine, 31, are all relatively new officers in the city.
They have been on the force four and a half years, five years, two years and two months, and one year and 10 months, respectively.
All have prior military or law enforcement experience, according to official records and people interviewed by The News Tribune.
Police Chief Don Ramsdell has described the four as dedicated and community-oriented.
“They’re all fairly new officers, but they all have done very good work,” Ramsdell told The News Tribune on Friday.
Police union representatives did not respond to calls for comment for this story.
The police department previously said Burbank, Collins, Ford and Rankine were at the scene and interacted in some way with Ellis, a Black man who died March 3 at the intersection of 96th Street South and Ainsworth Avenue South after being physically restrained by officers.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Ellis’ death a homicide, but it will be up to a prosecuting authority to decide if the officers were justified in their actions that night or should face criminal charges.
Fender bender only demerit
Burbank, who is white, is the only of the four officers with a disciplinary record.
The infraction was for rear-ending someone stopped at a red light in Bonney Lake in July 2016.
He was using a police computer inside his patrol car while heading to work in Tacoma and failed to come to a complete stop. The push bars on his patrol car struck a Ford Explorer in front of him.
Nobody was injured, and there was minimal damage, according to an incident report obtained by The News Tribune.
Burbank was ordered to complete an online course in distracted driving and review department policies with his supervisor, records show.
Other than that, his personnel file includes a Medal of Merit and six commendations.
At least four of those awards are shared by Collins.
Collins and Burbank were given the Medal of Merit after responding Aug. 19, 2016, to the assault of a convenience store clerk on South Hosmer Street.
While they were taking a report, the suspect returned to the gas station carrying a large butcher knife and yelled, “Kill me, kill me,” at the officers, records show.
A foot pursuit ended after Burbank used a Taser on the man, which was ineffective. Collins then used a Taser and the suspect dropped to the ground and was taken into custody.
Officials honored the two for facing a “volatile, life-threatening situation with courage and bravery.”
“Their restraint and tactics led to the safe apprehension of a violent offender whose actions could have led to a deadly force situation,” according to the award.
Three other commendations shared by Burbank and Collins are as follows:
▪ On April 23, 2017, they contacted a domestic violence victim who reported her boyfriend pointed a gun at her, threatened to kill her, then forced her withdraw money from an ATM and drop him off at home.
Several officers responded to the felon’s house.
Burbank and Collins wrote and served the warrant, which resulted in an arrest and the recovery of two guns.
Officials praised them for their professional, efficient work on the case, which supervisors said “represent the highest ideals of department values through their professional and dedicated service.”
▪ On May 3, 2017, Burbank, Collins and another officer were doing a security check on East 48th Street when they heard gunshots and saw a pickup truck with four men inside speeding in their direction.
Burbank and Collins pulled over the truck, and Collins allegedly spotted a handgun beneath the passenger seat.
The two got a confession from the passenger and all four men inside the truck were arrested.
They were honored for “keen situational awareness and decisive actions” that likely prevented future drive-by shootings, records show.
▪ On March 15, 2018, both officers — along with four others — volunteered to patrol an area where a homicide and several armed robberies recently had occurred.
One officer spotted a subject matching the description of a suspect and stopped him.
As their colleagues took the man into custody, Collins and Burbank searched the area and found a revolver underneath a tree.
Officer Burbank
Before coming to Tacoma, Burbank served in the U.S. Army from 2002 to 2010, during which time he earned a Medal of Valor.
He then served as a police officer in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In September 2015, that department honored him for saving a woman who was attempting suicide in her home, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
Officer Collins
Collins, who is white, also spent eight years in the U.S. Army.
Richard Ramos met Collins in 2009 while both were in the Army Rangers. Ramos told The News Tribune they deployed together twice and that Collins treated everybody kindly and respectfully.
“No matter the person’s gender, ethnicity, orientation, and spiritual convictions, Matthew was always kind, courteous, accepting, understanding and helpful towards all,” Ramos said. “He treats all people equally as he considers all people God’s children. Matthew is a man of faith and strives daily to be a person of kindness, fairness, duty, justice and self-sacrifice.”
Fellow churchgoers David and Rachel Shafer described Collins as “a man of moral integrity and humility, motivated by his faith, and his love for his family, city and country.”
Collins became president of his police academy class in 2015.
Since joining the Tacoma Police Department, he has earned a Medal of Merit and eight commendations, records show.
In addition to the commendations he shared with Burbank, he also was honored for taking a resident for a mental health evaluation. The resident later sent a letter to the department thanking Collins for saving their life.
He was also trained in grappling martial arts and taught classes on defensive tactics.
Officer Ford
Ford, who is Black, grew up in Tacoma.
He graduated from Stadium High School, where Ellis’ mother was his guidance counselor.
Ford took some classes at Western Washington University before finding seasonal work in North Cascades National Park through a student program meant to bring diversity to national parks.
He is gay and Muslim, according to High Country News.
Ford dreamed of a career in the parks but lost his position to a veteran employee.
He worked for two years as a public safety officer with Pierce Transit before becoming a Tacoma police officer.
Ford has earned four commendations and recognition for volunteering at the Cinderella Ball, a special gala for people with special needs, records show.
In September 2019, Ford was named employee of the month for using de-escalation tactics with a resident suffering from mental illness, records show.
He also made an appearance in the Police Department’s music video meant to teach social distancing after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Officer Rankine
Rankine, who is Asian, is the most recent hire of the group, coming on board in 2018.
He served in the Army for six years as an infantryman and earned a Purple Heart and other medals while deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rankine also worked at the Department of State for two years as a security contractor.
He has not earned any commendations during his police career in Tacoma, which officials attributed to the short time he’s worked there.
Salary information
According to information on City of Tacoma government employees from 2018, Burbank and Collins both have a base salary of $103,0501.
Ford’s base salary then was $76,086 and Rankine, who was a recruit two years ago, had a base salary of $64,688.
2018 is the most recent year available for salary information.
The four officers remain on paid administrative leave while Ellis’ arrest and death are investigated.
Investigation in limbo for now
Although the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department initially investigated the case, state officials have called for a new, independent investigation. A new agency had not been named to take over the case as of Tuesday.
Investigators who originally looked into the case say Ellis, 33, pounded on a patrol car, attacked one of the officers and repeatedly struggled when police tried to arrest him.
Videos from two witnesses and a home security system show portions of the incident, including Ellis saying, “I can’t breathe, sir, I can’t breathe.”
The recordings show officers hitting Ellis, one officer placing a forearm around Ellis’ neck from behind and placing a knee on him in attempts to restrain him.
Ellis died at the scene despite paramedics performing life-saving measures for nearly 40 minutes, according to computer-assisted dispatch logs.
His death was ruled a homicide by oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Ellis had a potentially lethal amount of methamphetamine in his system and heart disease, which contributed to his death, according to autopsy findings.
Dr. Thomas Clark wrote in his 14-page report that physical restraint alone would not have killed Ellis but believes the restraint, body positioning and spit guard placed over his face were the most significant factors in his death.
Officials have not given details about why only two officers appear in the videos, at what point the other two arrived on scene and the role each officer played in restraining Ellis.
A sheriff’s deputy and Washington State Patrol trooper also were at the scene for a period of time.
“From the police log, it’s really clear that a lot of law enforcement resources responded, and there were a lot of transitions during the encounter with Mr. Ellis, and we don’t know exactly who did what,” said Michael Staropoli, an attorney representing Collins and Ford. “I believe that a complete and thorough investigation will unequivocally show that the officers did not engage in misconduct.”
The police union put out a statement after Mayor Victoria Woodards called for the four officers to be fired and prosecuted, chastising her for speaking out without all the facts.
“Does she know that one of the officers is African-American? Does she know that they are fathers and sons, brothers and uncles? Does she know that some are military veterans who served our nation with honor? Does she even care?” the union wrote in its statement.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
