Madison Independent Police Monitor Aeiramique Glass suffered a minor injury in an altercation with Madison police officers near the site where an officer killed Corey Ruiz on July 29.
Glass and Madison Common Council Vice President Carmella Glenn told Madison365 that they were in Glenn’s car traveling toward the site where City staff and police dismantled an encampment and memorial site that’s been there since Ruiz was killed. Protesters continued to linger through the day Tuesday, and police continued to make arrests. Glenn said they intended to observe police interactions with citizens and de-escalate tensions.
Glenn said they saw police dragging a limp figure and stopped to document the arrest. In a video she shot on her cell phone, police can be seen dragging a woman, who was not cooperating. They stopped a few times to reconfigure their grips and the way they were carrying her. Glass can be heard telling officers to “be careful” with the woman’s arms.
Glass and Glenn both said that after she stopped recording, she attempted to get the badge number of an officer who she said had been “antagonistic” toward her earlier in the day, as well as during this encounter.
Video provided by Madison police shows Glass engaging officers and taking photos of them before an officer makes contact with her, pushing her back. Glass then attempts to turn away, but the officer grabs her arm; when Glass resists, officers swarm and several officers grapple with her for about 15 seconds before letting her go.
Video recorded by Office of the Independent Monitor data analyst Greg Gelembiuk shows three or four officers grappling with Glass. Glass was not taken to the ground, but did get a cut on her right hand. She said she’s unsure how she got cut.
The following video contains profane language as well as blood.
Video indicates that Glass was wearing a blue t-shirt with a large Office of the Independent Monitor crest on the front.
Police Civilian Oversight Board chair Maia Pearson said it was appropriate for Glass to be on the scene.
“I don’t think it’s inappropriate for her” to be on the site of an arrest to observe, Pearson said. “I don’t think it’s inappropriate for anyone. And I think she has a different ability, just based off of her access, where she can ask, like, ‘Hey, what is your badge number? What is your name’? And I think she can inquire in ways that the public may or may not be able to.”
In a subsequent video, also recorded by Gelembiuk moments after the encounter, a visibly stunned Glass says, “I told you, they’ve been wanting to do this to me. I told you. And I’m not the one. I will burn this city down. I will burn it down.”
She later told Madison365 she didn’t recall saying that. Pearson said she was unaware of those remarks and could not comment.
