Madison police arrested at least seven people early Tuesday morning as officials moved to clear out an encampment at the site where a Madison police officer shot Corey Ruiz on July 22. Additionally, a total of 10 people have been cited, according to a Madison police spokesperson.
The street reopened to traffic just after 9 a.m. For close to 13 days, the area had been blocked off by a memorial to Ruiz, a 38-year-old Black man. That memorial morphed into an encampment spanning several city blocks, as people brought tents, mattresses and grills to the site at South Baldwin and Williamson streets, known as Willy Street to Madison residents.
During the early morning Tuesday, garbage and city pick-up trucks were carting things away as police in riot gear stood by. Some residents watched from the sidewalk as officials worked to restore the intersection. A small group of protesters remained, with one person shouting through a bullhorn and some chanting, “No justice, no peace” and “no racist police.” The tents that had made up the encampment were gone.
Around 8 a.m., city street sweepers moved in to clean the area. City workers placed memorial objects into boxes that were later taken to Demetral Field, a nearby park. Items include a sculpture of a raised fist that had been part of a memorial for George Floyd in Minneapolis and was brought to the Madison site.
“For nearly two weeks, I and city staff have been working day and night to peacefully resolve the occupation of Williamson and Baldwin without law enforcement intervention,” Madison Mayor Satya-Rhodes Conway said in a video message on Tuesday, adding that city officials plan to work with the Ruiz family and other community members to create an ongoing space to grieve.
“But that work could not begin while city streets were occupied, local businesses were on the verge of closing and residents in the Marquette neighborhood were caught in the middle of an increasingly volatile situation,” she added.
MPD: People threw objects, set fires
The operation to clear the streets started at roughly 5 a.m., according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Stephanie Fryer. She told WPR the city initially sent in non-police staffers to tell people to clear the area. She said the city sent in its Community Alternative Response Emergency Services, or CARES team, and that street division workers walked through the encampment with a megaphone “essentially telling people now is the time to begin grabbing your belongings and leave.”
Fryer said police got involved after people began starting fires and throwing objects at Streets Division workers.
“We also had been told that they were taking candles that were lit for the memorial and also throwing those in the air, trying to start fire that way,” Fryer said.
The mayor’s on update on Tuesday specifically mentioned two fires. It also said that people threw rocks.
Two people protesting were injured while the encampment was being cleared, according to Fryer. One person was evaluated by medical staff and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the other refused treatment. Fryer said a city employee was taken to the hospital after suffering a “medical event.”
Fryer emphasized that no one’s personal property from the site was being thrown away.
“The only things that were removed and actually thrown away were the items that obviously were started on fire or actual trash in the area,” Fryer said.
Protestors describe heavy machinery clearing camp in pre-dawn hours
Samuel Brooks of Portage was among those cited. He said he was handcuffed, given a court date and later released by police after being at the encampment early Tuesday. Brooks said he previously spent more than a decade living in the Willy Street neighborhood and had been at the encampment overnight.
“We saw city vehicles moving around, and then we got word that the police were massing nearby, and yeah, they just circled up,” Brooks said.
Brooks said city officials arrived some time before dawn. When that happened, he said he was among the people trying to wake up a homeless couple who were sleeping in a tent.
“Bulldozer was coming straight for their tent,” Brooks said. “People were trying to get things under his wheels so we could get these people out of the way before they came through.”
Brooks’ citation report showed he was apprehended on suspicion of resisting arrest. It listed a $449 fine from the city. He said he wasn’t worried about the citation.
“I’ve got resources,” said Brooks, who is white. “I think my skin is a shield against police violence in a lot of situations.”
Chaous Riddle of Madison said she was also at the encampment when it was forcibly cleared early Tuesday.
“The whole thing was actually horrific,” Riddle said, as she recalled seeing heavy machinery and construction equipment plowing through the area. “They came in with their ToolCats. They barely missed people because it was dark.”
In an update Sunday, Rhodes-Conway said the city partnered with local agencies to provide hotel vouchers to roughly “25 to 30” who were homeless and staying at the encampment. According to the mayor’s latest update, another 10 people were placed in hotel rooms on Monday.
“The 50 or so unsheltered individuals who were onsite were given the option to stay in hotels and were offered transportation there. A significant majority decided to do so,” Rhodes-Conway said on Tuesday. “This effort was done with as much compassion as possible under less-than-ideal circumstances.”
Alyse Weber of Madison lives just four blocks from where the encampment took place. For days, she says people were bringing items to the encampment, including food, electrolyte drinks, diapers and medical supplies. After the encampment was cleared, Weber broke down in tears as she described people looking through boxes for their items.
“I was looking for my unhoused neighbors — people that I ignored, people that I’m sure my neighbors ignored out of fear of the unknown,” Weber said. “And, for the last two weeks, we’ve seen them and loved them, and been in community with them. And I certainly hope that part continues.”
Encampment began as protest site for Corey Ruiz
The encampment started as a protest site following the death of Ruiz in a struggle with police. It has blocked a busy thoroughfare and shut down traffic to businesses and residences in the neighborhood since.
Police said Ruiz, who was homeless, produced a knife during a struggle with police, injuring one officer. Police used a Taser that they said was unsuccessful, and then an officer fatally shot Ruiz. The shooting, which was captured on video by bystanders, is being investigated by the state Department of Justice.
Protesters have called for a permanent memorial to Ruiz as one of their demands following the shooting.
Devon Snyder, a civil rights activist who is part of Madison’s Police Civilian Oversight Board, said he found the city’s move to clear the site “hypocritical.”
“This is disheartening,” Snyder told a WPR reporter at the scene. “Something that was a tragedy, built a beautiful community. And they come and do this? … They want to call this an unlawful assembly. If this was an unlawful assembly, then why did the city support this for the last week?”
Following the shooting of Ruiz, demonstrators dragged trash carts to block off the area. There were also homemade barriers around the encampment, including nails hammered into a strips of wood that was placed on the pavement.
City officials also put up official barricades and announced on July 23 that the area of the encampment would be blocked off “until future notice.” At times throughout the last two week, the city has also parked salt tracks around the encampment to help block it off.
A private company supplied port-a-potties to the site, and Rhodes-Conway has refuted reports that the city provided any portable toilets to the encampment.
The move to clear the encampment comes after days of escalating warnings by Rhodes-Conway.
On Sunday, she said the city would issue tow orders for vehicles blocking the street. On Monday, she signaled city action was imminent.
“Countless efforts have been made to convince people that the occupation of Williamson Street and Baldwin Street is counterproductive,” Rhodes-Conway said in a statement Monday. “A huge amount of patience has been given because the last thing Madison needs is a large-scale police operation. That’s why those occupying the area need to leave immediately.”
Kilfoy Flores, former chair of Madison’s Police Civilian Oversight Board, criticized the mayor for not being seen at the encampment before it was forcibly broken up.
“I think that she should have come and mourned with her constituents,” Flores said. “Coming and mourning somebody’s death doesn’t mean that you’re choosing a side. It means that you’re coming to support your community who’s in pain.”
Near east side representatives: permanent memorial is in the works
Madison Alder Davy Mayer and Dane County Supervisor Yogesh Chawla were at Demetral Field on Tuesday morning as people sorted through boxes from the encampment.
“They’re also being very careful because there were a large number of sharps found on site,” Mayer said. “So a lot of people have protective gloves that are going through things.”
Mayer and Chawla represent the near east side neighborhood where Ruiz was shot. Chawla noted that rain could be coming and said there’s a plan to cover memorial items with tarps if that happens.
“(We wanted) to make this difficult process as orderly and efficient and as compassionate as possible,” Chawla said.
Mayer said he did not have an estimate early Tuesday of how much clean up would cost the neighborhood. After street sweepers went through, graffiti messages remained, including on sidewalks and the Baldwin Corners apartment building.
Going forward, Mayer said the plan is to create a memorial not solely to Ruiz, but rather to “all the victims of police violence.” In addition to the killing of Ruiz, Madison’s Willy Street neighborhood has been the site of two other fatal shootings by police, one in 2012 and another in 2015.
Common Council to meet Tuesday night
On Tuesday morning, Rhodes-Conway’s lawn had been covered with yard signs, showing her face and other public officials including MPD Police Chief John Patterson and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. Their faces were merged with images of pigs, and had messages scrawled on them like “wanted for murder” and “defund the police.” Postcards from the local activist group Freedom, Inc. were also scattered on the lawn.
Madison’s Common Council will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night for the first time since the shooting. That meeting will be in virtual format only. A city spokesperson previously said that decision came out of an abundance of caution after threats against multiple elected officials.
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