From [HERE] and [HERE] On August 25, Brandon Ruff, a sergeant with the Philadelphia police department’s 16th precinct, filed a lawsuit claiming that he was assaulted by seven officers in Philadelphia’s 35th District when he entered the precinct to anonymously turn in three handguns, reports Philly.com. He is a Black man.
Ruff claims that he suffered “two sprained wrists and two sprained shoulders” and says that the acts were “committed willfully, wantonly, maliciously, intentionally, outrageously, deliberately and/or by conduct so egregious as to shock the conscience.”
Ruff is an 8-year veteran with the force.
The City of Philadelphia, he said in his civil suit, encourages and is deliberately indifferent to the abuse of police powers. Among other accusations, Ruff claims the city tolerates officers who misrepresent facts in order to establish probable cause, and allows officers to have persons falsely arrested or maliciously prosecuted. He also asserts the city permits the continued employment of officers who are psychologically or emotionally unfit to serve.
In his suit, Ruff said a friend asked him to turn in three firearms the friend had bought from neighbors “in a proactive attempt to stop violence.”
Ruff, who was off duty, checked to make sure the guns were unloaded and then drove to the 35th District station at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue. When he arrived at the precinct, he told an officer he wanted to turn in some firearms. The officer asked who owned the guns. Ruff – who refused to identify the owner — said he was turning them in under a “no-questions-asked” policy and asked to speak to a supervisor, the suit states.
But according to a police spokesman, a “no-questions-asked” policy does not exist outside of periodic gun-amnesty programs.
“Can you drop them off like a baby? Typically, no,” said Lt. John Stanford, a department spokesman. “That’s only done when we do buybacks.”
Ruff was allegedly threatened with a Taser during the incident and held for 6 hours. He was treated for his injuries at a local hospital.
According to authorities, Ruff’s expectation that he could walk into the precinct and return guns anonymously with no background information was “odd,” to say the least.