Statement on the Ongoing Investigation into the Police Killing of Corey Ruiz on July 22, 2026

This office has an open and active independent investigation into the killing of Corey Ruiz by a City of Madison police officer. I will not share details of that investigation here, and nothing in this statement should be read as a finding or a conclusion about what happened on July 22, 2026. But this statement speaks to something broader than that single investigation, and it stands regardless of what that investigation ultimately finds. 

Whenever a life is lost, and especially a life lost at the hands of those who took an oath to protect and serve, we must take a deep look at every measure that could have prevented it. Every life has value. But being Black, being unsheltered, and living with mental and behavioral health needs add additional vulnerability and additional risk, in this city, in this state, and in this country. My heart breaks for the family of Corey Ruiz. The killing of another son, father, brother, friend, regardless of any challenges he faced, he is loved and missed. 

My heart breaks for a community, a city grieving and navigating the trauma of watching Corey be killed in person and on camera. What can't be denied is that this is a horrific thing to watch, and a horrific thing to feel. 

Before Corey Ruiz was killed, I had already raised high urgency and concern for the harm and trauma that people of color and our most vulnerable residents were enduring in this city and this state, harm that is proven in Madison's police department's own data, proven in the experiences of this community, and upheld by systems that work together to protect themselves rather than the people they serve. 

On my first day in this role, December 8, 2025, I sat down with Chief Patterson and told him I was shocked that this department did not have body-worn cameras. I wrote an open letter to the Mayor and to this city saying the same thing. I said it to nearly every alder one on one. I said it during a Common Council meeting. I said it was not necessarily a preventive measure. It was an immediate need for accountability, for transparency, and for a record that cannot be rewritten after the fact, a tool needed in investigations. I said it needed strong policy and oversight so it cannot be used as a tool to cause harm.

Read the full statement here