Dayton detectives testify during hearing in Takoda Collins’ death

Police detectives and officers testified Thursday in the case in which a Dayton father and his girlfriend are accused of killing the man’s 10-year-old son.

Al-Mutahan McLean, the father of Takoda Collins, and McLean’s girlfriend, Amanda Hinze, appeared in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for a motion to suppress hearing. They have asked a judge to bar evidence collected by law enforcement in the case, including statements they made to police and items collected from search warrants during their investigation.

Authorities have said in court documents that Takoda suffered “extreme abuse” before his death. Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said in a previous release that Takoda was tortured both mentally and physically for years.

The defendants are each charged with multiple felonies. McLean was charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, rape, kidnapping and endangering children. Hinze faces involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping and child endangering charges. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty in the case and both remain in the Montgomery County Jail on $1 million bond.

Clinton Evans testified. He was the first police officer at the scene when authorities were called to 1934 Kensington Drive because Takoda was unresponsive. A microphone Evans was wearing captures the initial conversation McLean had with police and a portion of it was played in court.

McLean first asked the officer if he could go check on Takoda and then told the officer that Takoda has a history of misbehaving, rolling in his own filth, and said that he hurt himself with a broken chair leg.

“I took that away from him, put him in the shower, here he is. I checked on him and an hour later he called my name, ‘dad, dad’ and boom here he is,” McLean can be heard saying on the recording.

Later during the hearing, Det. Zachary Farkas testified. He said McLean was taken to the safety building in downtown Dayton and put in a room for questioning. However, McLean began to make loud noises with a chair and would not comply with officer’s orders.

Farkas said he and another detective used force to detain McLean and during the altercation, McLean began to bleed from his lip. This prompted Farkas and an officer to take McLean to the hospital to be checked out.

Defense attorneys questioned the officers Thursday about their tactics and whether law enforcement followed procedure when they obtained consent to search signatures from Hinze and search warrants from a judge. The motion to suppress hearing was not finished Thursday, and a next court date was not announced.

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