Sheboygan, WI — The Sheboygan police have released the body camera footage of a shooting that took place on July 2nd, 2020. The shocking video shows Kevan Ruffin, Jr., 32, apparently armed with two large knives and charging at police officer Bryan Pray. Pray warns Ruffin multiple times to stop, but eventually is forced to shoot the attacker several times. Ruffin later died of his injuries.
Check out this footage:
The Sheboygan Press reported on the shooting on July 2nd, but the officer’s body camera footage was only released as Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski’s office was investigation into the shooting. The police department posted the video on August 5th.
Police reported that he was responding to a call around 6:00 am of a ‘disturbance with a man attacking a woman.”
When he arrived at Indiana Avenue and South 15th Street he turned onto South 15th Street. The alleged attacker, Ruffin, saw the police car arrive and immediately began began walking toward the police vehicle.
As the video shows, Officer Pray recognized the man on the street as soon as he arrived. He asked Ruffin if he was doing okay, and asked him to take a seat on the curb. His tone was even, but he clearly wasn’t taking any chances with Ruffin.
Ruffin allegedly refused to comply and sit on the curb. Instead, the footage shows Ruffin started to walk directly towards the officer. Pray shouted out a warning to Ruffin, telling him that if he didn’t stop, he’d be tased.
There are what appears to be long knives –possibly Sai-style — in either of Ruffin’s hands as he approached Officer Pray.
Pray tried to evade Ruffin while drawing his taser. He tased Ruffin, but it didn’t slow him down. Pray was shouting to Ruffin to stop because he was going to get shot even as he pulled out his service weapon.
He shot Ruffin, killing him. The autopsy report says that Ruffin had four shots to the chest.
Officer Pray is on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation. He had been with the Sheboygan Police Department nearly two and a half years.
Officers who responded to the scene said that Pray was very shaken up over the events, telling his friends, “He chased me, man! He charged me, man. I almost fell. I tased him first, and I told him.”
It’s Faster Than You Think
No matter how much you train, videos like this are a good reminder of how fast things can go sideways. Situational awareness is the key to survival in stories like this. We don’t always have to be as alert as a police officer — they’ve got a target on their back now more than ever — but we need to be sure we’re not buried in technology or so wrapped up in our own tasks that we don’t see possible threats around us.
As for this officer, thank God he had his body camera or he could be facing a ‘defunding the cops’ riot outside his house — brought to you by billionaire leftists who hate our gun rights. Instead, the District Attorney has announced that Officer Pray won’t be charged for his actions.