MADISON, Wis. – A newly circulating bystander video provides one of the clearest views yet of the July 22 confrontation in which a Madison police officer fatally shot a suspect who had pulled a large fixed-blade knife and injured an officer during a struggle in the middle of a busy street.
The footage, shared widely online including in a post highlighting the “new angle,” shows multiple officers attempting to restrain 38-year-old Corey Ruiz near the intersection of Williamson and South Baldwin streets around 1:35 p.m. Officers can be heard shouting about a knife as they grapple with the man on the ground. A Taser is deployed but proves ineffective. Moments later, the officer who had been injured by the knife fires three shots at close range.
According to Madison Police Chief John Patterson, officers were initially responding to reports of a man stealing bicycles and checking the doors of parked vehicles in the Marquette neighborhood. When officers located Ruiz, he fled on a bicycle through backyards. They caught up with him again near Williamson Street, where a physical struggle ensued in the roadway after he either fell or was taken off the bike.
During the fight, Ruiz produced “a large fixed blade knife”, not a small folding knife, Patterson emphasized, and used it to injure one of the officers. That same officer then fired his weapon. A Taser attempt by another officer failed to stop the threat. Four officers were involved; all have been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. The injured officer was treated and released.
Police recovered the knife at the scene and released a photo of it. Ruiz was pronounced dead at a hospital. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his identity as Corey Ruiz, 38, of Madison. Cause and manner of death remain pending additional testing.
Ruiz had an extensive criminal record spanning years, including prior convictions for battery or threats to law enforcement, resisting officers, vehicle theft, robbery, and other offenses. At the time of the incident, records indicate he was listed as absconded from community supervision.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent probe into the shooting, which is being treated as a homicide investigation under state law requiring outside review of officer-involved deaths. Madison’s independent police monitor has also launched a review.
Notably, Madison police officers do not wear body cameras, a long-running point of local debate that has left investigators and the public reliant on bystander videos for visual evidence of key moments. City officials have indicated funding for body cameras is expected in the upcoming budget.
The videos triggered protests and vigils in Madison, with some community members and the family of Ruiz, who has retained attorney Ben Crump, questioning the use of deadly force and calling for accountability. Patterson has acknowledged the incident damaged community trust, particularly given the location’s history with prior police shootings, while stressing full cooperation with the independent investigation.
Use-of-force experts have offered mixed assessments of the rapid sequence captured on video, with some noting the danger posed by a knife during a close-quarters struggle and others questioning the timing of the shots after the Taser deployment. Official findings will determine whether the officer’s actions met the legal standard of responding to an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm.
As the investigation continues, the new video angle is being closely examined by authorities and the public alike as a critical piece of evidence in assessing the events of that afternoon.
