MADISON, WISCONSIN — Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway ordered police to remove a community memorial and encampment at the intersection where Corey Ruiz was killed, resulting in nearly two dozen arrests and a physical altercation between officers and the city’s independent police monitor. The clearance operation followed warnings to protesters regarding resident complaints and occurred two weeks after Ruiz, a 38-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin.

Rhodes-Conway sent police to remove the memorial after stating that city leaders had offered extensive resources to unhoused individuals occupying the encampment, including hotel rooms and bus tickets. During the removal, officers and the city’s independent police monitor engaged in a physical altercation. Nearly two dozen protesters were arrested within 24 hours of the memorial removal, and ten protesters received citations within the same timeframe.

Following the clearing of the encampment, protesters shifted their demonstration to the Dane County Safety Building, located two blocks from the state Capitol. The protest encampment for Corey Ruiz had been occupied for two weeks before it was cleared by city leaders and police. Hundreds of Madison residents had protested in the streets following the shooting of Corey Ruiz, and protesters established a memorial encampment at the cross streets where Ruiz was shot.

Police stated that Ruiz was wielding a knife and injured an officer, though multiple bystander videos showed Ruiz was shot while already detained and on the ground. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras. Ruiz was unhoused at the time of his death. Ruiz’s family called for mandatory body cameras in Madison and charges for the four officers involved.

Madison Police Chief supported the demand for body cameras. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced she would include funding for body cameras in the next city budget. Madison is the only big city in Wisconsin without police body cameras, despite more than 80% of police nationwide wearing body cameras as standard practice.

Juliana Bennett, a former Madison Common Council member who was elected in 2021, voted against body cameras, citing that an independent report commissioner was on the payroll of a major body-camera manufacturer. Bennett helped launch a mental health crisis response program in Madison that sends a community paramedic and a crisis worker to nonviolent 911 behavioral health calls. She stated she preferred costs proposed for cameras go toward addressing the city’s homelessness crisis.

"We’re under an illusion that body-worn cameras are a good way to stop police violence from happening in the first place," Lauren Bonds, executive director, said. "It’s more that they’re helpful if police violence happens and there’s already a program in place limiting police responses." At least three body-camera proposals were rejected or delayed by the Madison Common Council since 2020. A 2021 feasibility review found that some marginalized communities in Madison opposed body cameras due to fears of surveillance.

Madison launched a body-camera pilot program in 2024. An analysis of the 2024 body-camera pilot program found the technology did not affect police behavior or community-police relations in Madison. Madison created an office of the independent police monitor to review police misconduct and violence cases. Juliana Bennett is running for Francesca Hong’s state assembly seat.

Black residents comprised 7% of Madison’s population. More than half of the Madison Police Department’s use of force cases in the previous year were against Black residents. Tony Robinson, a 19-year-old biracial man, was shot and killed by police in Madison in 2015.

Tony Robinson was shot on the same Madison street where Corey Ruiz was killed. Paul Heenan, a white 30-year-old, was killed by police in Madison in 2012.

The removal of the memorial and the subsequent arrests reflect ongoing tensions between city leadership and community advocates regarding police accountability and the treatment of unhoused residents. The incident reflects disparities in policing, as more than half of the Madison Police Department’s use of force cases in the previous year were against Black residents, who comprise 7% of the population. The lack of body cameras on the officers involved in Ruiz’s death has intensified calls for policy changes, with the mayor now proposing budget funding despite previous council rejections and a pilot program that showed no effect on police behavior.

Why It Matters

The clearance of the memorial and subsequent arrests occur as Madison remains the only large Wisconsin city without mandatory police body cameras, despite national standards exceeding 80 percent adoption. This incident shows a pattern where more than half of the department's recent use-of-force cases involved Black residents, who comprise 7 percent of the population. The event follows two prior police killings on the same street since 2012, reflecting recurring tensions over accountability measures that have faced repeated delays or rejection by city leaders since 2020.