Cops Point Guns, Jump on Car Hood, Break Windshield of Teens Sneaking Out on Christmas Night

Urbana and University of Illinois Police were quick to use excessive force against a group of teens trying to sneak out on a Christmas night. The incident occurred in 2018 when a resident called police, reporting seeing what they thought was suspicious activity at a neighbor’s house at around 11:50pm.

Though there was no evidence that any crime was being committed, and no evidence of weapons or dangerous persons, officers were quick to respond with guns drawn. Urbana Officer Eric Ruff pointed his pistol at a car with three teens who were leaving the area. He then got in front of the car and jumped on the hood, claiming the vehicle had lurched forward. Ruff then struck the windshield with his pistol and flashlight and hard enough to break the glass and damage his pistol.

At the same time that Urbana Officers Ruff, Timmy McNaught, and Zachery Mikalik were accosting the three teenagers at gunpoint, Officers Cortez Gardner, John Franquemont, Matthew McKinney, along with University of Illinois Police Officers Alex Tran and Drew Osterholt, and Champaign Police Department K9 Officer Jonathan Kristensen began checking the residence that the teens were driving away from.

Inside, Officer Cortez found an individual sleeping on couch and pointed his gun at her and began issuing commands. A while later, the officers were able to confirm that the woman sleeping on the couch was the homeowner and not a burglar taking a nap.

Meanwhile, Officer Ruff and his associates were laying the teenagers down on the pavement at gunpoint and handcuffing them. The teen driving the car said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t know you guys were cops.” This is unsurprising since the police reports indicate that the officers positioned themselves “tactically with no exterior lights on” as though they intended to surprise their targets.

The teens were eventually let free after the officers learned that the only crime they had committed was trying to leave the house quietly so as not to alert their parents.

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

Urbana Officer Eric Ruff left a group of innocent teens terrified on Christmas night when he jumped on the hood of their car and broke the windshield with his pistol

Just two weeks prior to this incident, Officer Eric Ruff battered a psych patient at OSF hospital, and less than 16 months later 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 December 25^th, 2018 incident (labeled U18-06270) are provided below.