Madison Residents Press for Answers in Police Killing

A police shooting death of a homeless man who the chief said wounded an officer with a knife while resisting arrest has roiled Wisconsin's capital city, with protesters and community groups demanding accountability and an end to racial injustice. Corey Durell Ruiz, 38, was shot and killed on a Madison street Wednesday, the moments of his death captured in bystander videos that were later posted online. The race of the officer who fired his gun has not been released by police. Ruiz is identified as Black or Latino in Wisconsin court records, the AP reports. "It does not matter who you are or what your past is, you should not lose your life as a result of an encounter with law enforcement," Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said Thursday.

The court records show Ruiz had been in and out of jail over the past decade for mostly misdemeanor offenses including disorderly conduct, drug possession, auto theft, battery, and invasion of privacy. He was also convicted of felonies including possession of cocaine and marijuana, robbery, strangulation, resisting an officer and causing bodily harm. Common Council President Sabrina Madison said she's struggling to understand what she's seen in the videos. "My first thought is, when the officer's walking away, why isn't he walking away in cuffs," Madison said. "I'm angry, there's no way around it." Ruiz's family has retained Ben Crump, a lawyer who has represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, who were all killed by police. Crump said the case must be examined for excessive force.

Frustrated residents marched, and a memorial of flowers and signs grew near the place where Ruiz died. It was just blocks from where two other police killings happened in 2015 and 2012. A group of about 20 protesters burst into Thursday's news conference, taking the microphone from police Chief John Patterson and arguing with some attendees who said they wanted to hear more about the investigation. Police have released few details; none of the four officers who were detaining Ruiz wore body cameras. Passersby accused the officers of overreacting. "It looked to me like they had him under control," David Ortiz-Whittingham, who saw officers swarming and heard the gunshots, said Thursday. "Even now, knowing about the knife, did he have to die for it? Could this have been de-escalated?"