Updated

Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 24

Corey Ruiz Family Hires Ben Crump After Fatal Madison Police Shooting Involving 4 Officers

Updated

Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 24

Corey Ruiz Family Hires Ben Crump After Fatal Madison Police Shooting Involving 4 Officers

Q: What will unreleased bystander and squad car videos reveal about the moments leading to the fatal shots?

The unreleased videos are expected to clarify the disputed seconds before Corey Ruiz was shot, especially whether police accounts of a knife attack and failed Taser use match what happened on the ground. Publicly circulating cellphone footage already shows officers struggling with Ruiz, shouts of “He’s got a knife!” and “Taser!,” and then gunfire. But Police Chief John Patterson said those clips show only one angle and not the officers’ perspective. Investigators are also reviewing additional bystander recordings and possible squad-car video that could fill in gaps. If those videos are clear, they could show how the encounter began, how Ruiz ended up on the ground, whether he was still armed or actively threatening officers at the instant shots were fired, and the sequence in which an officer was allegedly cut and a Taser was deployed unsuccessfully. They may also help establish distances, positioning, and whether officers had alternatives in the final moments. What the videos will not provide is body-camera evidence, because none of the four officers involved were wearing body cameras. That makes bystander footage and any squad-car recording especially important to the Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation and to the family’s demand, through attorney Ben Crump, for full public release of all available video. Until those recordings are released or described in detail by investigators, the key facts about the fatal moments remain unresolved.

3 articles · Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 24

Ben Crump was hired by Corey Ruiz’s family after Ruiz died Wednesday in a Madison police shooting during an altercation.
Police Chief John Patterson said Thursday the case is being treated as an open, active homicide investigation.
Madison police said Ruiz was armed with a knife and injured one of four officers trying to detain him after he was seen checking parked vehicles in the Marquette neighborhood.
All four officers involved were placed on administrative leave under district policy, and Patterson described the officer who fired the shot as a veteran officer.