It has been more than a year since Check CU requested public records related to likely police misconduct involving Urbana, Illinois Officer Eric L. Ruff. In January of 2022 we learned of an incident where Ruff deployed a TASER on an unarmed individual who was allegedly refusing to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed.
Even if a subject is being uncooperative, Urbana officers are not permitted to use a TASER unless there is a serious threat. According to the Urbana Police TASER Policy, an officer should only use a TASER if the subject’s “behavior imminently threatens serious physical harm to any person”.
Stringent limitations are placed on TASER usage because a TASER deployment can, and sometimes does, result in death to the subject.
From what we know about the incident, officers Raymond Rich and Brian Ingram were already physically restraining the subject when Ruff used his TASER.
The incident in question actually occurred on July 17th, 2020. Check CU requested the related police reports on January 29th, 2022. The City of Urbana unlawfully delayed their response to the records request by nearly a month before denying the reports entirely (state law requires public bodies to respond within five business days).
Check CU also notes that the Urbana Police Department has been violating laws which require them to review TASER usage incidents. Urbana law requires that every TASER usage be reviewed by the Civilian Police Review Board, but Interim Police Chief Richard Surles has issued protest with that requirement and has instructed his officers to ignore it.
Because the Urbana Police Department does not actually review uses of force, this incident was not reviewed for policy violations.
The improper TASER deployment in July of 2020 occurred just three months after Officer Ruff violated police policy and battered Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis.
On April 14th, 2022, Check CU filed a lawsuit against the City of Urbana for their unlawful denial of the police records. The lawsuit is still ongoing and to this day Urbana has still refused to supply the records. Urbana City Council members seem unwilling to issue any comments related to the unlawful secrecy of their Police Department and the seemingly endless stream of public records violations committed by their appointed Freedom of Information Officer, Ross McNeil.
We have also more recently requested video related to the July 2020 TASER incident and will file additional lawsuits as needed to gain compliance from the City.