Ex-USC linebacker charged with felony assault

Ruffin allegedly involved in separate incidents with women in Downey this spring.

A former USC linebacker who drew national attention in 2016 for stomping on the groin of an Alabama player has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats after two incidents in Downey.

Prosecutors allege that Jabari Ruffin, 23, assaulted a woman with a metal broom handle March 27 and threatened another woman with a shotgun April 17 in the 8600 block of Boyson Street.

“It is further alleged that the threatened crime, on its face and under the circumstances in which it was made, was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey … a gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution,” the criminal complaint filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court said.

Ruffin’s mother shares the same name, Angela Cooks, as the woman allegedly assaulted with the metal broom handle and resides in the 8600 block of Boyson Street. Public records link Ruffin to the same address. The former linebacker is being held at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic in lieu of $130,000 bail, according to jail records. He previously pleaded not guilty to both charges.

A bail review hearing is scheduled for next week.

The public defender representing Ruffin declined to comment.

Ruffin, ranked as one of the nation’s top 150 recruits coming out of Downey High, ran into trouble at USC as a senior in 2016. After the groin-stomp of Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick during a game in September, USC coach Clay Helton suspended Ruffin for the first half of the following game against Utah State. Ruffin returned to the field but was dismissed from the team in October 2016 for an unspecified “student conduct” issue.

Last September, Ruffin received a security guard license from California’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.