Check CU is reviewing another violent incident involving Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Eric Ruff. On March 12th, 2018, Ruff twice threw an unarmed patient to the floor in the OSF hospital in Urbana.
Ruff said that before the incident even began, he recognized that the patient was suffering from mental illness:
“I knew that yellow scrubs at this hospital signified the individual is a psych patient.”
Ruff then claimed that the patient walked up to him and attempted to reach for his gun, so Ruff grabbed him and threw him onto the floor. In his report, Ruff said that the patient was hearing voices that told him to shoot himself.
Officers Jared Hurley, Paige Bennet, Ruff, and two OSF security guards escorted the handcuffed patient in a wheelchair to a different part of the hospital that does not permit guns (presumably to protect both patients and staff by removing weapons from unstable situations). At this point, the officers were already informed that the subject wanted to acquire a gun to shoot himself and the subject had already apparently tried to take Ruff’s gun.
Ruff then removed the patient’s handcuffs and the patient again allegedly reached for his gun. Ruff used the opportunity to “execute an armbar takedown” on the patient, who was thrown on to the floor a second time.
The police reports do not explain why Urbana officers continued to present opportunity to a mental illness patient with a known desire to take a gun and shoot himself. Check CU notes that Officer Eric Ruff frequently uses violent techniques against residents, including body slams, kneeing the ribs, and punching people in the head. Because the Urbana Police Department does not actually review uses of force, this incident was not reviewed for policy violations.
Police reports related to the March 12th, 2018 incident (labeled 018-01151) are provided below.
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