35th District Sgt. expresses outrage: 'You are a disgrace to this badge!'

SGT. DONNA Bachmayer didn't mince words yesterday when asked what her reaction was after learning that Brandon Ruff - whom she and other cops had a confrontation with outside the 35th Police District - was a police sergeant.

"I said, 'Holy s---. You're one of us?" Bachmayer testified before a federal jury.

"How could you do this?" she testified she told Ruff. "How could you do this to us? You are a piece of s---. You are a disgrace to this badge and this uniform I put on every day."

Bachmayer is one of six cops in the 35th District, at Broad and Champlost streets in Ogontz, who was sued by Ruff, who at the time of the Aug. 3, 2014, incident was a sergeant in Powelton's 16th Police District.

Yesterday, at Ruff's civil trial, his attorney, Michael Pileggi, called him and four of the six 35th District cops to testify.

Ruff, 28, said that on Aug. 3, his day off, he was dressed in a tank top, cargo shorts and sneakers. About 5:30 p.m., he went to his friend DeRyan Jones' house on South 21st Street. Ruff said Jones, a tattoo artist, gave him a bag with three guns inside.

Ruff said he wanted to turn the guns in to "the proper authorities" to get them off the street, so he went to the 35th District because it was on his way home.

He first encountered Officer Michelle Long at the lobby window. Officer Ivene Echels then came to the lobby to speak to him. He said he gave Echels his friend's name, DeRyan Jones, as the man who gave him the guns, but did not want to give his name.

Echels testified that when she asked Ruff for his name, he gave his own name as Ryan Jones. She said she pushed the bag of guns through the lobby window, so it was in the operations room.

Soon after, Ruff went outside. He said he wanted to use his cellphone, but couldn't get reception inside. The 35th District cops said there is cellphone reception inside; they said Ruff just left.

Bachmayer testified that she went outside after she heard Officer Angelina Bednarz yell for her. She said she saw Ruff walking away and saw he had "the bulge of a gun on his right side."

Bachmayer said she yelled for Ruff to stop, but he wouldn't. She told another officer, John Thompson, to stop Ruff and take his gun.

Thompson testified that when he caught up to Ruff, "I tapped him on the wrist," then Ruff got in a defensive position with his left foot forward.

"He's 6-4, I'm 5-8," Thompson said. He said he took out his Taser and pointed it at the center of Ruff's chest. Thompson said he was able to confiscate Ruff's gun without having to use his Taser.

Bachmayer testified she asked Ruff if he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

"He says, 'I am a citizen of Philadelphia. I don't have to show you s---,' " Bachmayer testified.

Afterward, she said she told Ruff he was going to be arrested on a weapons offense.

She said as Thompson was trying to cuff Ruff, Thompson's partner, Marc Monachello, was running with his Taser out.

Ruff, in his testimony, said that as Thompson grabbed his right arm to try to cuff him, he asked Thompson what he was doing, and that he gave a code identifying himself as a police officer.

He said Monachello then came up, put a Taser to his chest, and said, "I'll f---ing tase you," Ruff testified, getting emotional.

Ruff, his head down, wiped away tears and sniffled.

"I saw two Tasers," he testified. "One on my ribs, one on my chest. I said, 'You can't be serious? For turning guns in?' "

Long testified she did not hear Ruff yell out the code identifying himself as a cop. She said Ruff was "flailing his arms" while Thompson was trying to cuff him.

Bachmayer also testified that Ruff didn't identify himself as a cop while outside. "That guy didn't let me know he was a cop, let alone a sergeant, until I had him handcuffed and brought into the district," she said in outrage.

"He put us in a scenario where one of us could be shot," she said.

Ruff sued the six 35th District cops last year, contending he was wrongfully arrested and that excessive force was used.

On Feb. 2, Ruff was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor offense of providing false identification to law-enforcement officers, and was fired from his job.