Man killed in Tacoma police custody was ‘the glue’ of his family, his mother testifies

Marcia Carter-Patterson, whose son died in Tacoma police custody in March 2020, testified Monday in the trial of three officers charged with his death.

She described for jurors her final conversation with her son, a video call on March 3, 2020, less than two hours before he died.

“His happiness shone, that was for sure,” Carter-Patterson said. “That was the unusual part. He was very gregarious that night and more at peace.”

Carter-Patterson’s son, Manuel Ellis, 33, died of oxygen deprivation, the Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled. Ellis repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe while a succession of them took turns restraining him, according to charging documents.

Defense lawyers for Tacoma officers Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 34, have directed jurors’ attention to the high level of methamphetamine in Ellis’ system, positing that he died of an overdose and not by homicide, as the medical examiner had determined. Each has pleaded not guilty and remains employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave.

Collins and Burbank face charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter.

Carter-Patterson called Ellis “the glue” of her family. He was the middle child, with an older brother and a younger sister. Ellis struggled with mental illness and addiction. He tended to avoid his mother when he was under the influence of drugs, Carter-Patterson said.

But in the final months of his life, after he moved into a sober-living home following his arrest for attempted robbery, Ellis called often, including on that last night of his life.

“He looked good. He looked happy…,” Carter-Patterson said. “That was the night he said, ‘Mom, I really want to give my life to the Lord. I’m tired of the lies. I want to be here for my family. I want my life to change and I want to give it to Jesus Christ.’”

On Thursday, Ellis’s sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, also testified that Ellis had turned a corner while staying in the sober-living home. That’s where he was walking after picking up a snack of raspberry-filled powdered donuts and a jug of water, when he was confronted by Collins and Burbank.

They reportedly saw Ellis trying to get into a car as it passed through an intersection, so they contacted him. Collins and Burbank told detectives that Ellis became aggressive toward them, and they responded by subduing him. Eyewitnesses who recorded cellphone videos of the incident tell a different story, characterizing the officers as the aggressors.

The absence of video from the onset of the struggle leaves the question of who started the scrum in dispute.

Carter-Patterson said she learned of her son’s death from the Medical Examiner’s Office the next morning.

“It was the worst day of my life,” she testified. “I lost it because I didn’t think that it was true.”

Testimony was to resume in Pierce County Superior Court on Monday afternoon, with David C. Wells, a crime-scene recreation expert for the prosecution who followed Carter to the stand, expected to continue testifying.

This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 12:35 PM.