After more than seven months of internal and external reviews claiming no wrongdoing and clearing all officers involved in the violent arrest of Aleyah Lewis, Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin acknowledged that there was a violation of policy during the incident.
Local activists have been voicing their concerns about the inadequate investigations into the violent arrest of an Urbana resident. An internal review conducted by the Urbana Police Department (UPD) concluded that the actions of the officers involved in the arrest were within UPD policy and procedure (article here). A review by Chicago-based law enforcement firm Hillard Heintz that cost taxpayers $20,000, also cleared the officers involved of all misconduct (article here).
Community watchdog, Christopher Hansen followed-up on the concerns of the public, and reviewed how Officer Ruff handled his rifle during the arrest. In his analysis, The Safety of Wrestling with Your Rifle on CheckCU, Hansen pointed out that the safety mechanism of Ruff’s rifle was set to “FIRE” during the entire struggle with Lewis. During the encounter, Ruff’s rifle was frequently pointed at himself, Lewis, and other officers on scene.
Notably, neither the UPD nor the Hillard Heintze review mentioned that the safety mechanism of Officer Ruff’s rifle was in the “FIRE” position during the arrest.
Council member Jared Miller, and residents brought up the issue of rifle safety during the Hillard Heintze review and during subsequent City Council meetings.
After over a month of silence, Chief Bryant Seraphin announced that Hillard Heintze was not going to further investigate the issue of Officer Ruff’s rifle safety mechanism since it was beyond the scope of the firm’s contracted work. Instead, it would be investigated internally by UPD.
The City and UPD were once again silent for more than 3 weeks. Residents pushed for follow-up and accountability during City Council meetings and during a Listening Session organized to gain public input regarding UPD’s Use of Force Policy.
Finally, at the second Listening Session on Nov 12th, 2020, Chief Seraphin made a very brief statement acknowledging that Officer Eric’s rifle safety mechanism was in the wrong position. According to Seraphin, this was a violation of UPD policy and the violation was addressed by Ruff’s supervisor.
“An issue that has come up repeatedly, that was fall-out from the Aleyah Lewis event had to do with Officer Ruff’s rifle safety, I’ve heard it come up a few different times. And I don’t recall exactly … there was an email submitted and maybe that was Mr. Hansen’s sort of step by step photographic freeze frame. That matter was taken seriously, it was referred to his supervisor for an investigation. The safety was in the wrong position, and it was a violation of policy. And it has been addressed by his supervisor. So, I just at least wanted to say that … that … that was not exactly how it was supposed to go. So, I thought that was important,” said Seraphin.
Seraphin did not elaborate on how the investigation was conducted, nor why this particularly dangerous aspect of the violent arrest was not initially investigated by either UPD or Hillard Heintze. He also did not comment on how the violation was addressed nor how incidents like this would be avoided in the future.