Black Man Killed By Madison Cop Identified As Protests Around the City Continue To Intensify

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The man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Madison, Wisconsin, this week has been identified, and he was a homeless Black and Latino man with a criminal record, which, of course, means racist white conservatives are expecting that anyone but them cares about his background and not the circumstances under which he was killed.

In Madison, though, the protests have only grown and intensified because people are tired of police violence and extrajudicial executions.

The shooting victim has been identified as 38-year-old Corey Durell Ruiz, who was reportedly unhoused at the time of his death, according to the Associated Press. The four officers who were detaining him, including the one who fired at least three shots, have still not been identified, but it was reported that none of them were wearing body cameras, which is why we’ve had to rely on video taken from civilians to get even a glimpse of what happened.

“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,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Well, let’s go ahead and look at Ruiz’s background anyway, not that it matters.

From AP:

Wisconsin 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.

“He’s a human being. He had a family. He has parents who loved him who brought him home, who cared for him,” Common Council President Sabrina Madison said, adding that she’s struggling to understand what she’s seen in videos of the shooting that have circulated on social media.

“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.”

The shooting is still being investigated, and authorities are still urging the public to reserve judgment until it is completed, although that message seems to be directed exclusively to protesters, not the people who have already branded him a criminal who deserved to die.

Still, the community in Maddison isn’t backing down. On Thursday, a group of about 20 protesters burst into a news conference — one of whom was holding a sign that read, “Corrupt cops deserve to die too!!!” — and the mic was taken from Police Chief John Patterson while some argued with attendees who were waiting to hear more about the case.

As we previously reported, Patterson said police were responding to a call about a man checking the doors of parked vehicles, and when they arrived at the scene, Ruiz “fled on a bicycle.” Patterson also said he had a knife, which injured the officer who shot him. Witnesses at the scene said they never saw a knife, and one woman can be heard shouting in video footage of the incident, “I saw everything! You did not need to kill him!” During the struggle between Ruiz and the officers, one cop can be heard shouting, “He’s got a knife!” and another can be heard shouting, “Taser, Taser, Taser,” just before Ruiz was reportedly tased, causing him to collapse to the ground. The shots were fired moments later.

“It was basically point blank, three shots to the head, upper-chest area,” one witness told the Washington Post.

Again, the shooter hasn’t been identified, but Patterson did mention at the news conference that he is an 11-year veteran of the force, according to AP.

Corey Ruiz’s family has reportedly retained famed civil attorney Ben Crump to represent them.

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