Description
Sara McDowell witnessed the confrontation between Tacoma officers and Manuel Ellis in March 2020. She testified in court on Oct. 10, 2023.
She testified Manuel Ellis "wasn't doing anything" when she saw an officer knock Ellis down with the front passenger-side door of a patrol car.
”It wasn’t right. I’ve never seen that happen before," McDowell told jurors, "I’ve never seen a cop do that to anybody, so it was like the worst thing I had ever seen. It was scary. It wasn’t ok.”
Video of the confrontation between Burbank, Collins and Ellis is expected to factor heavily into the state's case. The state is relying on three different videos taken by witnesses to argue to the jury that Ellis did not fight back against police as they restrained him at the intersection of Ainsworth Avenue South and South 96th Street.
Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/death-of-manuel-ellis/tacoma-officers-trial-death-of-manuel-ellis-witness-bystander-video-testify/281-08c71506-1ab2-4aaa-9c03-f26919cff499