Overview
- A police officer shot and killed 38-year-old Corey Durell Ruiz during an on-street encounter that police say included Ruiz wounding an officer with a knife, and the shooting was captured in bystander videos that circulated widely.
- The officer who fired is an 11-year department veteran and that officer plus three others have been placed on administrative leave while the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation conducts its probe.
- None of the four officers were wearing body-worn cameras and the Office of the Independent Police Monitor says it has not yet received evidence from the department, fueling demands for transparency and calls for accountability from city leaders and protesters.
- Protests have continued nightly in the Marquette and Williamson Street area and a two-block encampment has formed on Williamson Street, where some local reports say the city provided services such as portable toilets to the site.
- Ruiz’s family has hired civil-rights attorney Ben Crump, news outlets have noted Ruiz’s extensive criminal record in court filings, and the case is prompting local moves to budget and phase in body cameras while political voices offer sharply different takes on the demonstrations.