Opinion ID: 1521791
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: metropolitan police department washington, d.c. defendant/suspect statement

Text: 1. Complaint No. 2. Nature of Investigation Injured Person to the Hospital 3. Unit File No. 4. Statement of: (Last, First, Middle) Ruffin, Antone Dewitt 5. DOB 03-13-58 6. Sex M 7. Home Address [omitted] 8. Home Phone [omitted] 9. Location Statement Taken Homicide Office 10. Name of Officer Taking Statement (if other than block 16 include signature) CLarence L. Muse 11. Date/Time Started 2/3/80 1439 12. Waiver of Rights and Statement ADR [handwritten initials] Not You are under arrest. Before we ask you any questions you must understand what your rights are. You have the right to remain silent. You are not required to say anything to us at any time or to answer any questions. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we question you and to have him with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer and want one, a lawyer will be provided for you. If you want to answer questions now without a lawyer present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time. You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to a lawyer. Do you understand these rights? yes. Do you wish to answer any questions? yes. Are you willing to answer questions without having an attorney present? yes. Q: Do you know the man who was injured inside the hallway of [address omitted] this morning? A: Yes sir. Q: Relate to me the circumstances as you know them, which led to the injuries received by the man? A: This morning about 0830 I was on the way to take my Bass Player home at 17th & Corcoran St. N.W., when I decided to drive by my mother's apartment which is at [address omitted]. When we got there, my mother and my sister were sitting in her car getting ready to drive off. I asked them where they were going and they said that they were going up to my other sister['s; name omitted] house because Cliff had tried to rape her. I told them that I would follow them up there. When we got to her apartment, she said that Cliff had tried to rape her. I asked her where he was and she said that he had just left, so I ran around the corner and up the steps to see if I saw him and there he was going up the steps. He was at the top of the steps and saw that he couldn't out run me so he stopped and turned around and tried to push me down the steps. I went backw rds [sic] a couple of steps and grabbed the hand rail and went back up. He tried to swing and I blocked the punch. He fell and tried to grab my feet and push me back down the steps. So to keep him from pushing me down the steps I started kicking. Q: How much punishment did you inflict on Cliff? A: I hit him with a left-right combination to both sides of his face and he went down, he tried to get up but he couldn't so he tried to kick me down the stairs, so I used my feet. Q: How and where did you kick him? A: I kick [sic] him once with a full house and to [sic] straight down stomps. [blocks 13 through 17, as on Page 3; end Page 1] [Page 2] [heading, blocks 1 through 12, as on Page 1] Q: When you last saw Cliff was he unconscious or was he alert? A: He was unconscioys [sic]. Q: What was his condition? A: I did a job on him. Q: Do you know what part of the anatomy the kicks landed? A: I believe, around the forehead, mouth and nose, but I'm not sure. Q: How much blood was around when you last saw Cliff? A: A whole lot of it. Q: How long have you known Cliff? A: Long as I can remember. Q: Is he a friend of yours? A: Nope, frankly we don't get along. As far as I am concerned he is just another one of them herb-smoking Street Niggers. Q: Does he use drugs? A: I don't know about using drugs, but I know that he smokes Angel dust and Herbs. Q: Did you have any blood on your shoes? A: Yes, sir. [blocks 13 through 17, as on Page 3; end Page 2] [Page 3] [heading, blocks 1 through 12, as on Page 1] Q: What happened to the blood on your shoes? A: I washed it off. I first wiped it off upstairs in my sisters apartment, but it didn't come off too good, so I went down stairs to the basement and washed it off. Q: Why didn't you stay on the scene and talk to the police there? A: I stayed there for a long time until the police told me to leave. They told me to get out of the hall so I just left. Q: How long have you known Officer SHAW? A: 8-10 years, I persume [sic]. Anyway it's been a pretty good time. Q: What happened to your Bass Player while this was happening? A: He came up the steps behind me and he must have said something like It not worth it because I stopped when I heard this and we went back down stairs. Q: Did Officer SHAW hit Cliff? A: I didn't see him hit him because I wasn't with him. I know what condition he was in when I left and it wasn't good. Q: Were you trying to kill Cliff? A: No, sir, I was only defending myself and teaching him a lesson, you can't keep going round mistreating people and expecting nothing to happen. Q: Have you ever Boxed or taken Karate? A: Yes, both of them. 13. I Have Read this Statement Given by me or Have Had it Read to me. I Fully Understand it and Certify that it is True and Correct to the Best of my Knowledge and Recollection. Antone D. Ruffin [handwritten] Signature of Person Giving Statement 14. Date/Time Ended 2/3/80 1548 15. Page 3 of Pages. 16. Officer Obtaining the Signature in Block 13: Clarence Muse [handwritten] Clarence L. Muse (Name and Signature) 17. Person Witnessing the Signature in Block 13: (Name and Signature) Government Exhibit 27 (italics added for emphasis; bold face indicates standard printed language in original Form P.D. 118) (this is the involuntary written statement that the majority describes as exculpatory, see ante at 704-705).