Urbana Officers Draw Guns on Shoplifter over Bottle of Bourbon

Another use of force incident by Urbana Police seems to show that officers are ready to draw their guns for almost any type of call, even when there is no expectation of danger.

On June 21^st, 2018, the Circle K at 2011 North Lincoln Avenue called police to report that a man was 47 cents short of being able to pay for his $19.47 purchase.  The purchase was cancelled, but the man allegedly walked out of the store with a bottle of Evan Williams bourbon anyways, without paying.

Though there was no report or suspicion that the shoplifter had made any threats, was acting violently, or had any weapons, Urbana Officer Eric Ruff went after the man with his gun drawn.  When Ruff drew his gun, his trainee, Officer Osric Hayes, mimicked him and drew his gun as well.

Ruff held the man at gunpoint while Hayes put him in handcuffs.  The man was fully compliant with the officers.

In the officer’s reports, they claim that they drew their guns because they initially could not see the shoplifter’s hands.  However, aside from the officers themselves having introduced weapons to an otherwise passive situation, there was never any implied danger.

If Urbana Police officers interpret their use of force policies to mean that any invented or imagined danger justifies use of force, then there would never be any cause in any situation to suggest that police may have used excessive force. 

Since the Urbana Police Department does not review uses of force, this incident was never reviewed for possible policy violations. 

Six months after this incident, Officer Ruff pulled his gun on a group of teens sneaking out on Christmas night, jumped on their car hood, and broke their windshield with his pistol.  Less than 16 months after that, he beat an unarmed Urbana resident as she lie on the pavement (then he sat on her while she screamed for help).

In the latter incident, Eric Ruff was found to have dangerously mishandled his patrol rifle, but police officials only acknowledged the violation seven months after the incident, and an irrefutable analysis by Check CU had forced their hand.

Urbana Police reports related to the June 21^st, 2018 incident (labeled U18-02801) are provided below.