Ruff justice?

BRANDON RUFF really didn't think it was going to end like this.

The veteran Philadelphia police sergeant, who in August was detained and later pulled from duty for trying to turn in three handguns anonymously, told the Daily News yesterday that he has learned he is going to be arrested and fired on Monday.

Ruff said he believes the arrest is retaliation for a civil-rights lawsuit that he filed against the city over the bizarre encounter he had with fellow cops in Olney's 35th District.

"I didn't kill anybody, so I would have to say that is [retaliation]," he said. "I don't know any other way to feel."

The story is an odd one, even by Philly standards.

Diarra "Tatman D" Davis, a tattoo artist who is friends with Ruff, gave the eight-year police veteran three guns - a 9 mm Taurus, a .38-caliber Taurus revolver and a Bryco Arms .380 - that Davis got from a client, Philly.com reported in December.

Ruff, who lives near the 35th District, at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue, decided to hand in the weapons there while he was off-duty on Aug. 3, believing he could do so anonymously under a no-questions-asked policy. Police officials have said such an assumption was ludicrous.

What happened next depends on whom you ask. According to police records, Ruff refused to identify himself when officers demanded to know more about the weapons, and he then stormed off while shouting profanities, the Daily News previously reported.

According to Ruff's lawsuit, he was swarmed by five to seven cops who roughed him up, injuring his shoulders and wrists, while cursing at him and holding a stun gun to his chest.

"The fact that the city initiated criminal charges at this juncture, on the heels of his First Amendment civil-rights case, is awfully suspect," said Michael Pileggi, Ruff's lawyer. "It's a classic retaliation case."

Ruff, who was assigned to the 16th District in Mantua, said he's spent the last six months on desk duty while an Internal Affairs investigation played out.

He hoped for a positive resolution - until Thursday night, when he said a supervisor called and told him to surrender at Internal Affairs headquarters in Northeast Philly on Monday morning.

Ruff said he didn't know the charges he's expected to face.

Philadelphia Police had no comment.