A Madison officer shot and killed a man Wednesday after the man pulled a knife and injured him during a struggle. The video below is raw cellphone footage — Madison PD doesn’t equip its officers with body cameras, so there’s no footage from the officer’s perspective.
Police say officers were sent to Madison’s Marquette neighborhood on reports of someone stealing bikes and checking car doors. They located a man on a bike — later identified as Corey Durell Ruiz, 38 — who took off, cutting through backyards to get away. Officers caught up with him at the intersection of South Baldwin and Williamson Streets. Ruiz came off the bike, and a struggle with officers followed.
Police say Ruiz pulled a knife during that struggle and injured one of the officers. That officer then shot Ruiz. Four officers were involved in the struggle; only one was hurt, and only one fired.
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The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the shooting. Madison’s independent police monitor is conducting a separate review. Police Chief John Patterson said the officer’s identity will be released as part of that process.
A day later, Patterson tried to brief the public on what happened. He didn’t get far.
A group of protesters pushed into the room as officials were speaking. Patterson stepped away from the podium, and a man who identified himself as Carlos Dixon took his spot at the microphone.
The moment Patterson tried to reclaim it, he was cut off. What followed wasn’t a question about the shooting — it was a lengthy statement covering police, capitalism, imperialism, and a claim that Patterson personally represented a system that had oppressed the speaker’s family for generations. At one point, the speaker acknowledged the knife was in Ruiz’s hand on video, then said the crowd didn’t want to hear it.
A second demonstrator held up a sign: “Corrupt cops deserve to die too!!!”
Right now, the public knows a man is dead, an officer was hurt, and a knife was involved. Everything else — what led up to it, what’s in any footage the department hasn’t released — is still being worked by investigators.
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