Columbia officer will not face charges in shooting death of teen in April, solicitor says
Prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against a white Columbia police officer who shot and killed a Black teenager in April, Richland County’s solicitor announced Wednesday.
Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson said his office reviewed evidence and determined the officer was justified in shooting 17-year-old Joshua Ruffin.
“There is no joy in having this conversation,” Gipson said. “There is nobody in this room celebrating anything that’s been considered and done. ... This is a tragic situation any way you cut it.”
In an hour long news conference at the Richland County courthouse, Gipson presented detailed maps of where the shooting happened and showed police body-camera footage of the shooting from multiple perspectives.
Ruffin was shot on April 8 around 6 p.m. Officer Kevin Davis was investigating a citizen’s report about at least one car break-in and groups of teenagers riding bikes and looking into cars in the north Columbia neighborhood of Seminary Ridge, according to the solicitor’s office.
The area is close to Eau Claire High School.
While patrolling the area, Davis saw Ruffin, who was walking near Sycamore Avenue, authorities said. Ruffin went behind a house as Davis approached in his police vehicle, and when the teen reappeared Davis tried to stop and speak with him. Ruffin didn’t stop for Davis and ran away from the officer, authorities said.
The officer chased after Ruffin for about 20 seconds to the grounds of Eau Claire High School, where the teen pulled out a .45-caliber handgun, according to authorities and body camera footage showed. Davis pulled his own weapon and ordered Ruffin to get on the ground.
Body-camera footage showed Ruffin begin to run away and point the .45-caliber gun at Davis from the side hip. Davis fired once at Ruffin, and as the teen got further away, Davis fired nine more shots, one hitting Ruffin in the head.
The bullet that killed Ruffin hit him while he faced Davis, Gipson said. Ruffin was not shot in the back as rumored.
Ruffin did not fire at the officer, according to Gipson.
The investigation
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was at the scene of the shooting within an hour, Gipson said.
Over the next 10 weeks, SLED agents investigated the shooting, which included processing the scene, gathering ballistic evidence, reviewing autopsy reports, interviewing witnesses multiple times and reviewing the body-camera footage.
SLED turned the information from the investigation over to Gipson’s office in early June.
To determine if Davis would be charged, the solicitor’s review of the information focused on if Davis had reasonable suspicion to pursue Ruffin and whether Ruffin could kill or maim the officer or anybody else.
Gipson’s office concluded that Davis did have reasonable suspicion that Ruffin may have acted criminally for six reasons:
- the text message from the community leader reporting teens looking into cars;
- recent break-ins;
- property crime being more prevalent in north Columbia;
- violent crime being more prevalent in north Columbia;
- Ruffin violating a stay at home order that was in place because of the coronavirus;
- Ruffin’s actions when approached by Davis.
North Columbia has more property crime than any other area of Columbia, Gipson said in his Wednesday presentation, giving Davis more reason to want to question Ruffin after the text about teenagers. A break-in had happened the night before in the neighborhood, Gipson said.
Schools had also closed by April 8 because of the coronavirus, and an order to be at home or at work was in place. Knowing that property crime goes up when school is out gave Davis another reason to question Ruffin, according to Gipson.
Because Ruffin wouldn’t stop and talk to Davis when the officer asked and instead ran from the officer, Davis had more justification for pursuing the teen, Gipson said.
The Columbia Police Department’s use of force policy allows officers to use deadly force when a person pursued by an officer has the “ability, opportunity and intention to cause great bodily harm and death.”
The handgun that Ruffin held gave him the ability to cause great harm or death, according to Gipson, and because of the proximity between Davis and Ruffin when the teen pulled the gun — about 27 feet — he also had the opportunity.
“Frankly we cannot tell you what his (Ruffin’s) intentions are,” Gipson said, but the teen was armed, had ignored an officer’s orders to get on the ground and was evading police.
The solicitor’s office review of the case found no evidence that Ruffin was breaking into cars.
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at the news conference that Davis is back at work after paid leave and working a desk job.
Davis couldn’t have done anything else to deescalate the situation, Holbrook said.
“Our officers are deescalating every day,” Holbrook said. “Their training is exceptional. They’re professional. They treat people with dignity and respect and we value the sanctity of life first and foremost all the time.”
Protest perspective
Some Columbia protesters, who galvanized after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, have called for prosecution of the officer who shot Ruffin.
Signs that say “Justice for Josh” and chants of Josh Ruffin’s name have sprung up in demonstrations at the State House and during marches.
Rumors that Ruffin didn’t have a gun and was shot in the back spread through some circles of protesters and Black communities, Gipson acknowledged.
After the solicitor’s announcement and seeing the body-camera footage, Demetris Hill said, “it’s hard to swallow.”
Hill, who is a regular figure at protests, said she’s “mourning a life and mourning that people were misled” about the shooting.
Lawrence Nathaniel, an organizer with I Can’t Breathe SC who has helped put together some of the recent demonstrations, thought the officer had no reason to pursue Ruffin.
“If (Davis) was told to search for more then one suspect on a bike then he should’ve searched for the suspects on the bike,” Nathaniel said, referencing the text to Davis that said a group of teens on bikes were looking into cars. “If you see a black man walking from the same area it does not mean that they had anything to do with it. In my opinion the officer provoked him to run.”
Davis was not given a description of any person to look for in connection with the break-in, Gipson said.
Rye Martinez, co-founder of the recently formed Empower SC organization, said “Our hearts go out to the Ruffin family.”
“The pain of those events was brought back to the surface as we were reminded of this tragedy and the uphill battle we have before us in fighting the systemic racism in our law enforcement’s profiling of young black men,” Martinez said. “Today and everyday, we stand beside the Black mothers who fear for the safety of their children. As a mother myself, I will continue to fight for policies to help keep our babies safe.”
In an impassioned introduction at the news conference, Gipson, the solicitor, recognized the “inglorious history” of racially biased policing and said that mistrust of law enforcement and prosecutors “was earned” over centuries.
He said his office “endeavors to break the cycle of mistrust.”
“I’ve seen change but there is much to be done,” Gipson said.
Gipson acknowledged that some protesters and supporters of Black Lives Matter may not be satisfied with his decision to not charge Davis.
“We take every matter that comes into our office with utmost importance and seriousness,” Gipson said. “We value life. We value justice. ... The prayer is that people will see the passion with which we do this job and we’ll earn the trust of our community.”
The Columbia Branch of the NAACP and Building Better Communities hosted “The Peace Vigil Support & Caravan” at Sidney Park CME Church on May 10, which honored Ruffin and Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old unarmed Black man who was shot and killed while jogging on Feb. 23 in Brunswick, Ga.
Ruffin’s shooting was the first shooting by a Columbia police officer in 2020, according to SLED.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 3:27 PM.