Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Eric Ruff gained local notoriety in 2020 for kneeing a young woman in the ribs, and punching her in the head after she was tackled to the pavement.  After video of the arrest was posted online, Ruff’s victim, Aleyah Lewis, became a symbol for police reform in the Champaign-Urbana area.

This wasn’t the first time that Ruff used violent techniques on a subject, however.  Check CU has located a set of police reports from December 2018 where Ruff battered a resident in nearly identical fashion. 

In the 2018 incident, a resident had a traffic accident and officers found a small amount of marijuana in their vehicle.  Ruff wrote in his police report that he suspected the individual was intoxicated and became uneasy with how the resident was looking at him and was uncomfortable with the resident keeping his hands in his pockets. 

When Ruff decided to grab the resident’s arms, the resident tried to pull and turn away, so Ruff picked him up and threw him to the ground.  Ruff then kneed the resident in the ribs twice and punched him in the head/face twice. 

This sequence of events is virtually identical to what would happen to Aleyah Lewis (who was also unarmed and not suspected of having committed any crime) sixteen months later.

After the Lewis arrest, Urbana Police Command Staff claimed that the practice of battering an uncooperative subject was acceptable and justified.

The excerpt below was extracted from an Urbana Police document (not visible in the official police reports posted below) which Check CU was able to acquire.  It contains a brief unredacted summary of the December 2^nd, 2018 use of force incident from another officer’s perspective:

“Takedown knee strike
to ribs strikes to face
strength

Intoxicated Hutton crashed his car
through fences and suddenly
becomes quiet and stares at Ruff’s
belt. Ruff oders Hutton to remove
hands from pockets and he fails to
comply. Ruff grabbed for arm
Hutton pulled away. Ruff picks
Hutton up and throws to ground.
Ruff gives two knee strikes to ribs
because Hutton won’t give up
hands. Hutton started grabbing at
Ruff’s vest so Ruff punched him in
head twice. Ruff and Willfong both
used strength to finally wrestle
Hutton into cuffs.

453 Need more information from
Ruff as to why he punched
Hutton in the face. Only
information was that Hutton was
grabbing at vest.”

Though it is virtually unheard of in policing, the officer in this case actually questions Ruff’s excessive use of force in his closing statement.  Check CU could not find any evidence that this questionable use of force incident ever had any follow up, and we have previously published evidence that Urbana’s Use of Force Review Board does not actually meet or perform use of force reviews.

If Urbana did have functioning use of force policy and review, one might wonder if Ms. Lewis could have been spared the beating she received from Officer Ruff in April of 2020.

In Champaign, similar instances of excessive use of force by Officer Matt Rush resulted in complaints and multiple lawsuits.  In several instances, Rush punched people and one of the lawsuits alleged that “Champaign Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, was aware that [Matt Rush] ‘had a tendency to punch people’”.  Champaign officials refused to recognize the complaints and other warning signs and as a result some residents were permanently injured and the City lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.

Police reports related to the December 2^nd, 2018 Urbana incident involved Officer Eric Ruff (labeled U18-05862) are provided below.