Urbana Police Present Choreographed One-Sided Mock Trial to Justify Beating of Woman During Arrest

“This was a carefully crafted one-sided puppet show designed to further embarrass and harass Lewis while straining to assign hero-status to her unscrupulous attackers”

Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and his cohort have switched into full-offense mode after initial efforts to squelch public outcry about police misconduct backfired. It all started when a citizen bystander posted a video online showing the violent arrest and beating of an innocent woman, Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis (video and original article here). The incident occurred on April 10^th, 2020, and the video, which was posted on Facebook the same day, very quickly acquired tens of thousands of views and thousands of shares and comments.

The video shows Urbana Police Sergeant Michael P Cervantes running toward, grabbing, and tackling Lewis to the pavement without warning. It then shows Officer Eric L Ruff running in, rifle haphazardly dangling from its sling, to straddle and sit on Lewis. Ruff, who at one point has his rifle barrel pressed into Lewis’s spine, punches Lewis in the head and also gives her a swift knee-strike to the ribs. Then, 350lb Sergeant James Cory Koker runs into the pile to add his bodyweight to 125lb Lewis as she is face-down on the concrete.

Just 18 hours after the Lewis arrest video was posted and the UPD had racked up criticism from thousands of citizens, Urbana Police Lieutenant David Smysor tried to turn the tables by posting a two-page propaganda piece about the arrest on the Facebook page of the Urbana Police Department. Citizens saw right through the hastily written and obviously biased “press release”, and stormed the April 20^th Urbana City Council Meeting with an hour of public input by citizens angry with the Urbana Police Department.

“It was a travesty of justice, an hours-long agonizing headache-inducing three-ring circus, with Urbana Police uniforms instead of clown suits.”

What happened next, according to one citizen who attended the April 27^th Urbana City Council meeting, “was a travesty of justice, an hours-long agonizing headache-inducing three-ring circus, with Urbana Police uniforms instead of clown suits.” The metaphorical ‘ringmaster’, Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin, was joined by Lieutenant Jason D Norton, and later by State’s Attorney Julia Rietz, to present what was supposed to be a fair investigation and review. What was actually presented, according to the same attendee, was “a carefully crafted one-sided puppet show designed to further embarrass and harass Lewis while straining to assign hero-status to her unscrupulous attackers.”

The meeting started with 25 minutes of public input by citizens who criticized the Urbana Police Department and called for a third party investigation. Then, after a ten minute presentation by Seraphin and Norton about police use of force, they finally played the 911 call for the incident:

“There’s umm a boy that had shot himself, but he’s like walking up and down the street with a gun in his hand. I just wanted to like, report that. Cause when I was taking groceries in we heard like a loud gunshot, and he fell but now he’s like up, stumbling, back and forth in the street, and some girl was like behind him, trying to, I dunno, see something. I dunno but. He’s got the gun in hand, cocking it in his hand, and stuff like that.” “I seen him like drop the clip. He had it in his hand, the clip fell out and hit the ground, and he had to put it back in there, and he prolly tucked the gun in his pants.”

The person with the gun was apparently Kamarion Busby, who may be in a relationship with Lewis. This 911 call seems to describe what is called an “accidental discharge” or possibly a “negligent discharge”. From the description given in the 911 call, it seemed rather clear that someone had accidentally shot themselves, one time, and may need medical attention. There was no reason to think, at the time, that Busby was carrying the gun illegally, or that he intended to harm anyone with it.

An accidental discharge can happen to anyone, even Champaign Police Officer James Hobson, who “accidentally” shot an unarmed man during a foot chase in 2017. In that case, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz decided not to press charges against Hobson, even though he put a man in the hospital with his “accident”.

Kamarion Busby, as it turns out, had not actually shot himself as the 911 caller described. Busby allegedly damaged a nearby apartment wall with a bullet fired from his gun, but Chief Seraphin confirmed that there are no witnesses who actually saw Busby fire a gun so the ‘who’, ‘how’, and ‘why’ remains unclear.

Chief Bryant Seraphin likened the situation to a “school shooter” or a “shopping mall” “active shooter” scenario

Chief Bryant Seraphin, instead of describing the call as a likely accidental discharge, said it was an “active shooter” call and likened it to a “school shooter” or a “shopping mall” active shooter scenario. He described the importance of “securing the scene” and stayed strongly invested in the “active shooter” perspective throughout his narrative.

Seraphin and Norton then presented a selected series of five cut and edited body camera and dash cam videos of the incident, each averaging a few minutes in length. They paused and narrated videos frequently, attempting to at all times justify every action taken by the officers involved. Urbana Police Officers on scene included:

• Sgt. James Cory Koker, of Champaign, IL
• Sgt. Michael P Cervantes, of Mahomet, IL
• Sgt. Brian D Willfong, of Ogden, IL
• Officer Eric L Ruff, of Mahoment, IL
• Officer Raymond L Rich, of Decatur, IL
• Officer Brian P Ingram, of Homer, IL
• Officer Joshua D Jeffers, of Fisher, IL
• Officer Oliver R Marquez, of Champaign, IL
• Officer James A Kerner, of St Joseph, IL

(Side note: as issues of race have been raised repeatedly in regards to this incident, CU-Underground has noted that aside from the two officers who live in Champaign, all of the officers involved reside in all-white towns. It is also notable that the Lieutenant assigned to investigate the Lewis arrest, Jason D Norton, also resides in an all-white town.)

The first video displayed by Seraphin had nothing to do with Lewis or Busby, but showed Officers James Koker and Brian Ingram stopping a juvenile boy who, besides being black, did not match the description of the “suspect” reported in the 911 call. This video was presented to show, as an example, that if someone is cooperative, they will likely suffer less at the hands of police officers. In the video, Koker said to the boy:

“Are you hurt at all? Do you have any injuries to you, sir?…We had a gentleman who claimed that he had a gun, ok, and he put the gun back in his waistband and he shot himself accidentally, so we just want to make sure that you’re not the guy, ok?

This statement by Koker affirmatively establishes that the officers on scene were apprised of the 911 call and were not in any way expecting an active shooter situation. However, both Seraphin and Norton, as well as most of the City Council members, continued to push the latter narrative for the rest of the meeting.

The next four videos showed various angles of the Busby and Lewis arrest, again, with Seraphin and Norton telling the viewers how to interpret and feel about each action. At no point did either of them indicate that officers could have handled things in a better way. Norton even argued that Ruff’s threat to shoot suspects “if you put your hands next to your waist” was proper. Norton reasoned that Ruff would have been correct to shoot a suspect if they’d put their hands near their waist because “if people are carrying guns on the street most of the time they’re in their waist”.

The reader will be better served by watching the videos themselves, than by a text description of the events:

Before Lt. Jason Norton described some of the “techniques” used by Officer Eric Ruff while he was straddling Lewis, he emphasized again that this was a “shots fired” report. Norton appeared to be reaching the limits of his vocabulary skills, as he began to stutter while explaining why Lewis was punched in the head, without using the words “punched in the head”:

“So, uh, Officer Ruff used what is typically known as a distraction technique or a stunning technique, what, what his target area was the, brachial nerve bundle behind, the ear of Ms. Lewis. Umm, and and what those are essentially are, uh eh uh, designed to do are, uh, weaken the subject’s resistance by changing their, their thought process. Uh, basically uh uh, a break state to short circuit their response mechanism, uh, to make somebody flinch. So, while they’re concentrating on, uh, one thing, we distract them with another, to help get them into some kind of control hold.”

Norton continued on like this, straining to describe why a punch to the head was needed. Then Norton devoted an equal amount of time explaining the “technique” of Ruff’s knee-strike to Lewis’s mid-section, and so forth. At no point did Seraphin or Norton indicate that Lewis was ever suspected of having committed any crime before officers tackled her.

At no point did Seraphin or Norton indicate that Lewis was ever suspected of having committed any crime

If one wished to follow the “circus” metaphor to its conclusion, the “Grand Finale” would certainly be Chief Seraphin’s presentation of Aleyah Lewis in jail. According to Seraphin, Officer Rich had returned to the Champaign County Jail the morning after the arrest, to interview Lewis. The reason for showing these video segments was initially unclear as Seraphin said “we want to show you three pieces of that which aren’t relevant to this particular event [Lewis’s arrest]”.

In the video, Lewis appears tired and distraught, and is wearing green padded material which, at the Champaign County Jail, is called a “turtle suit”. The “turtle suit” means that Lewis was forcefully stripped naked in the jail when she arrived (confirmed by jail records). This technique has been repeatedly documented in Champaign County as a means of punishing or torturing incoming prisoners. Records also indicate that a Taser was used on Lewis twice while in the jail (torture by Taser has also been documented in the same jail). Lewis appears greatly distressed and emotionally subdued while speaking to Officer Rich. During the interview, Lewis said she had taken Xanax the previous day, which is a legal drug designed to treat anxiety.

“As you can see, she is a completely different person the next day.”

Seraphin concluded the video by saying, “as you can see, she is a completely different person the next day.” The reason for showing the video of Lewis in the jail appears to have been to demonstrate that, after her arrest, beating, and a night in jail, Lewis’s state of mind had finally returned to normal, and the the previous day, Lewis must have been acting abnormal.

The UPD presentation lasted 85 minutes. After Chief Seraphin and Lt. Norton were finished telling the City Council and over sixty attendees how to interpret the actions of their officers, Council members, but not citizens, were allowed to ask questions.

For length purposes, this article will constrain itself to the Urbana Police presentation at the April 27^th 2020 City Council meeting. The portion of the meeting which concerned the Lewis arrest also included 25 minutes of public input before the UPD presentation, and an hour of Council member discussion after.

As Mayor Marlin had revealed at the beginning of the meeting, each City Council member had already spent hours meeting with Seraphin and Norton to review videos and ask questions about this event. None of these private sessions were recorded or made open to the public.

The full meeting video, as made public by the City of Urbana, does not show the screen shared by Seraphin and Norton, even though they speak for over an hour. Fortunately, a Zoom recording of the meeting was provided to CU-Underground by a thoughtful citizen who recorded both the presentation, and the screen shared by Seraphin and Norton: