Democrat frontrunner Francesca Hong, an avowed anti-capitalist who has advocated abolishing the police, recklessly incited a crowd against law enforcement after a likely justified Madison police shooting.
She also implied that “we” can no longer protect “a system,” apparently referring to law enforcement, accusing that system of causing “terror.”
“This state sanctioned violence was an execution,” Hong told the crowd, through a megaphone, as protests erupted. “We no longer can have a system that protects a power and a privilege that puts the pain and lives of armed officers over black people. We can not protect a system that contains to rain harm and terror.” She also called the likely justified shooting an “execution” in a written statement.
Two law enforcement experts, Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk and Waukesha County Sheriff’s Capt. Nick Ollinger, told WRN the shooting of Corey Ruiz was likely legally justified because the Madison police chief revealed that Ruiz cut the officer with a knife during a struggle before the officer shot him. The DA will make the final determination and both men stressed their stances were based on what is known now, including widely circulated videos. The legal standard for lethal force in Wisconsin holds that the officer must show he reasonably feared for his life or that of another when he opened fire.
Madison DSA – the socialist group which Fran Hong belongs to – is now outing the police officer’s name and calling the death a murder.
Madison Police Chief John Patterson said in a news conference that an officer with the Madison Police Department was involved in a shooting on the city’s near east side. MPD officers were dispatched to a call just before 1 p.m. on July 22 for a report of a person allegedly checking parked vehicles, he said. Officers located the man and attempted to contact him. He fled on a bicycle and traveled through some nearby backyards in an attempt to get away.
Officers connected again with the man at 1:30 p.m., said the chief. Madison Police Chief John Patterson said in a news conference that an officer with the Madison Police Department was involved in a shooting on the city’s near east side. MPD officers were dispatched to a call just before 1 p.m. on July 22 for a report of a person allegedly checking parked vehicles, he said. Officers located the man and attempted to contact him. He fled on a bicycle and traveled through some nearby backyards in an attempt to get away.
Officers connected again with the man at 1:30 p.m., said the chief. The officer who was injured by the knife was the same officer who fired his weapon at this man, Patterson said. Four officers were involved. Only the one officer fired his weapon. A second officer also injured. It’s not clear how that injury occurred, but police don’t think it was from the knife. He described the man as being in his 30s and said he was taken to the hospital, but has died.
“I believe, after an initial review of the videos and statements by the Chief, that the officer was justified in using deadly force. The chief says Corey Ruiz produced a knife and injured an officer during the struggle. That officer then fired his weapon after less-than-deadly force (TASER) was used. An officer must fear for his life or great bodily harm to himself or others to justify deadly force. I believe he met that burden,” said Piwowarczyk.
