Driver in fatal crash that killed Ruff gets prison
A Macomb County judge sentenced a man to 20 to 40 years in prison in the drunken driving motorcycle crash that killed an Eastpointe man and injured his wife.
Circuit Judge Diane Druzinski sentenced Eric Compton, 42, of Eastpointe, at the top of the sentencing-guideline range in the August 2021 incident that killed Bradley Ruff, 64, and injured his wife, Patricia, in Eastpointe. He also was sentenced to a concurrent term of nine to 20 years for the injuries to Mrs. Ruff.
Compton was convicted of driving with a “high blood-alcohol content and prior conviction causing death” and a similar charge for causing serious injuries to Ruff’s wife, Patriaical, 60, who was riding on the back of the motorcycle, when it was struck by a car driven through a stop sign by Compton, following a jury trial last November.
The trial was forced by Compton after he initially entered a plea that he withdrew when he learned of the potentially high sentence mostly due to his prior criminal convictions.
“Mr. Compton, I think you’re remorseful now, now that we’re standing here and the jury has returned a verdict, remorseful about the impending sentence, and I get that,” Druzinski said. “But I also get the fact that on any day, any given hour the choices we make can have lifelong effects for so many people, your family included. The Ruff family, they didn’t really do anything wrong.
“It was nothing short of absolutely, positively awful,” the judge said of the crashscene photos and the loud sound on an audio recording from a ring camera several houses away. “There’s no question the alcohol and blowing through the stop sign and hitting the motorcycle, they (the Ruffs) didn’t stand a chance, really.”
Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Steve Fox had asked the judge for a sentence at the top of the guideline range, which was from about 10 to 20 years on the main charge.
Meanwhile, Compton’s attorney, Mariell Lehman, asked for a term below the guideline range, noting her client was not speeding or otherwise driving recklessly.
Compton was drunk and driving a Dodge Journey at about 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15, 2021 when he failed to stop at a stop sign at Rosetta and Hollard streets near Nine Mile and Kelly roads and crashed into Ruff’s Harley
Davidson. The Ruffs were thrown onto grass along the street. Compton’s blood-alcohol level of .19%.
Compton, who had just left his nearby home after drinking, returned to his residence in a car driven by his wife immediately after the crash, and was arrested there. However, he was acquitted of leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
The couple’s daughter, Kara Ruff, said after the sentencing she was pleased with the outcome and praised officials involved in the case.
“I just hope that now with him being sentenced that I can find some peace and I can sleep at night,” she said. “I’m glad he’s being held accountable
for his actions. Justice is served for my dad and my family. The judge was awesome, very nice, and Steve Fox and Karen (Phillips) the victim advocate have been awesome.”
Kara Ruff spoke in court, and Ruff’s other daughter, Vanessa Ruff, and grandson, Alexander Gonzalez, who reside out of state, submitted written statements read by Fox.
The family described Ruff as gregarious and upbeat, and a great father, grandfather, brother and friend.
“He would light up a room when he walked in,” Kara said.
Bradley Ruff had recently retired after owning Kelly’s Bar in Hamtramck for 13 years and previously working at American Axle.
He loved cooking and often barbecued at the bar, and was a big Detroit Lions fan, family members said.
Vanessa Gonzalez said Ruff often visited her and her son, serving as a father figure and role model for him.
“My father was a happy, energetic, full-of-life man,” Vanessa Gonzalez said, directing her comments toward Compton. “What you have stolen from us is irreplaceable. I pray you get life in prison so your family will have a sense of justice and prevent you from taking and ruining someone else’s life.
“My father had so much more life to live and you robbed us all of him. He just sold his bar and was getting ready to move out, out west, here to be with us.”
Alexander Gonzalez, now 22, used to spend his summers visiting his grandfather in the Detroit area, and helped Ruff at the bar. Ruff, conversely, would visit them during the holidays.
“My family will never be the same,” Alexander said.
Compton apologized in court to the Ruffs and his own family for the impact of the incident and “for the way things happened.”
“I go through this every day myself,” he said. “There could’ve been a million things that could’ve been different. It’s just hard for me to make sense of it all.”
Compton will not receive credit for the 2-12 years spent in jail because he was on parole at the time of the crash. His prior convictions include drunk driving, selling heroin, marijuana and a “cocaine base,” using a weapon to further drug trafficking and being a felon in possession of a weapon.