Madison’s common council voted 14-6 to terminate the employment of interim independent police monitor Aeiramique Glass Tuesday night, in what some have called an illegal action.
The council chambers were filled to the brim for nearly 12 hours with nearly every speaker charging Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and the council with upholding white supremacy, breaking the city’s own ordinances by terminating Glass, and blasting city leaders for firing a Black woman in the wake of another police killing of a Black man.
Survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence told their stories- stories one registrant noted the council “didn’t deserve to hear”- likening the environment Glass had been forced to navigate to how abusers silence their victims.
Survivors who spoke at the meeting also noted how Glass made them feel safe, heard and seen, and that she could be counted on to fight for them, in stark contrast to the majority of the council.
The 12-hour meeting featured much drama with city attorney Michael Haas, a staunch adversary of Glass, fumbling his answers and seeming evasive while being cross-examined by council vice president Carmella Glenn.
At one point, Haas was unable to directly answer Glenn when she asked him to cite specific procedures and rules Glass had violated.
Many speakers spoke about the racism being displayed by members of the council amid the optics of publicly attacking an outspoken Black woman while police officers who have killed citizens remain unpunished.
Glass exposed police misconduct in the 2024 death of Richard Lee Johnson, a Black man who died while in police custody as the result of cardiac arrest brought on by police brutality.
Under her leadership, the office of the independent monitor has opened more than 70 investigations into police misconduct.
Common council alders and city attorney Haas have been engaged in a dynamic power struggle against Glass since the July 22 shooting of Corey Ruiz, a 38-year-old Black man in Madison who was unhoused.
Rhodes-Conway and city leaders have been heavily scrutinized for their response to Ruiz’ shooting, including the violent destruction of a memorial site dedicated to Ruiz in August.
Glass was assaulted by police officers that day, yet has been publicly chided by city leaders for her emotional response to the incident.
Gasps of horror, shock and rage reverberated through the chamber as Black alders like Joann Pritchett and Sabrina Madison, and LGBTQ champions like Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, sided with what dozens of speakers called the political lynching of a Black woman, and voted to terminate Glass.
Residents in attendance also expressed fury at Rhodes-Conway, who had multiple opportunities to display empathy and grace towards the family of Corey Ruiz and declined.
A family’s pain
Elsa Ruiz had to wait until well past midnight to give her public comment prior to the council voting to terminate Glass. Ruiz had been in the chambers for hours listening to people as they spoke in defense of Glass but also honored the memory of her fallen son, Corey Ruiz.
Everyone in the chamber gallery stood up as she approached the podium. Ruiz fought back tears while thanking people who had spoken up for her son and publicly gave her support to Glass.
Many in the crowd demanded Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway turn and offer some condolences to Ruiz. Rhodes-Conway repeatedly declined, at one point asking if the next speaker was available as people screamed at her for the cold shoulder she offered Elsa Ruiz.
Such has it been for the Ruiz family for several months now. The family has been thrust into the public eye while simultaneously having to grieve their loved one’s memory.
While the community has been overwhelmingly supportive, the City of Madison itself has remained silent towards the family. Rhodes-Conway and other city leaders have apparently nothing to say to the Ruiz family while on the other hand launching a loud offensive against Glass.
“I love and miss my brother very much,” Anna Ruiz, Corey’s sister, told Madison365. “He touched many lives in different ways. My brother was very kind-hearted. He always felt like he was gonna change the world.”
Corey Ruiz experienced the full spectrum of life in Madison. He was incarcerated, homeless and Black in one of the worst places in North America to be any of those things.
Yet, many in the community loved him for his kind heart.
“When he was in the streets, he helped people,” Anna Ruiz said. “He was never in the streets to hurt or harm anybody. He was very kind-hearted. He never judged anybody.”
Anna Ruiz said that Corey was particularly close with her young sons. He took time out to get to know each of his nephews one-on-one, forming unique relationships with them.
“Each of them had their own bond with him, so his death affected them tremendously,” Ruiz said.
One of her sons was so devastated by Corey’s death he had to be hospitalized for a week.
“He asked me, ‘Mom, why doesn’t anybody care about how we feel or what we are going through about uncle?’” Ruiz said.
Shadyra Kilfoy-Flores cares. She witnessed Corey Ruiz’ murder firsthand and met the family during the ensuing fight for justice for Corey. Flores accompanied Elsa Ruiz to Glass’ termination council meeting and has been as supportive as she can be for the grieving family.
“His nephews help me make art,” Flores told Madison365. “He has a nephew at UW and I can’t imagine starting college after losing your uncle in such a horrible way.”
Kilfoy-Flores has been in the fight for police oversight in Madison from the very beginning. She served as president of the PCOB and saw firsthand how attitudes shifted away from accountability.
“When you’re doing something effective that is challenging a police department, you’re going to have lawsuits,” Kilfoy-Flores said. “In theory, the PCOB and monitor sounded like great ideas, but when it came time for actual practice and holding officers responsible, the city wasn’t ready.”
Lack of leadership
Community members loudly celebrated the leadership Glass displayed as monitor during her termination meeting at common council.
Glass was regarded as a person who showed up for the community even on matters that didn’t directly pertain to police accountability. The contrast between that and how sources describe the leadership of Rhodes-Conway could not be more pronounced.
“It’s been so disappointing to see what a lack of leadership the mayor has shown,” Kilfoy-Flores said.
Common council members seemed to go along with the need for the PCOB and police oversight for a while, but members of the PCOB say the energy shifted against the monitor even before Ruiz was shot.
“We had alders who supported us in the beginning that would show up at our meetings, wanted to do the work, and then there was this switch,” Devon Snyder, the current chair of the PCOB, told Madison365 prior to Glass’ termination.
Snyder said the shift coincided with Glass closing the case on the death of Richard Lee Johnson.
Glass revealed that MPD had left out crucial information about the circumstances surrounding Johnson’s death and that the department had suppressed evidence that he was killed as a result of cardiac arrest brought on by being forcibly restrained by officers.
“I think what really got them was when she hired an independent medical examiner and he said Johnson didn’t die of an overdose; he died of excessive force,” Snyder said.
Glass became a major threat to the city financially by revealing things like the cover-up of Johnson’s cause of death. The City of Madison has already had to pay over $18 million to the families of victims of police brutality, and the types of investigations Glass was tasked with doing were inherently certain to lead to more city payouts.
Worse, Snyder said, Glass was an outspoken Black woman who caused consternation to some on the council who were particularly close to the mayor.
The campaign against Glass picked up steam when council president Sabrina Madison began feuding publicly with Glass.
“Meeka called president Madison a token Black person,” Snyder said.
Madison365 has heard the same anecdote from three different sources that Ald. Madison was upset by Glass calling her a token, and implying that she was not an ally in the fight for police accountability.
Snyder said Rhodes-Conway did not attend a community forum in September in which every other person who has declared candidacy for mayor participated or attended. More than five sources Madison365 interviewed said Rhodes-Conway also never came to the memorial site constructed in Ruiz’ honor.
One City Schools founder Kaleem Caire is running for mayor and has been concerned about both the lack of leadership from Rhodes-Conway and the public campaign against Glass.
“A mayor’s job is to bring calm,” Caire told Madison365 prior to Glass’ termination. “Mayors should go to the site of a person shot in broad daylight. I would have brought my entire team out there and tried to bring some calm and talked to the family. You gotta show empathy.”
Where do we go from here?
Glass is by all accounts one of the nation’s foremost experts in police oversight, and is a seasoned investigator of police misconduct.
Council Chief of Staff Karen Kapusta-Pofahl, who by her own admission lacks the “skill set” to conduct the 70 investigations Glass had going, will now be in charge of the office of the independent monitor until a permanent monitor can be hired.
But many fear the independence of the monitor is effectively dead now that the council has performed its firing of Glass. Any prospective monitor will know that their independence hinges on not creating political waves with the council or Haas.
Seemingly lost in all of this is what will happen to the investigations Glass was conducting, including the one into the shooting death of Corey Ruiz.
As for the family of Ruiz, they will now await a charging decision by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, who will decide if Madison police officer Kiel Baitinger-Peterson will stand trial for his killing of Corey.
“He can’t rest until justice is served,” Anna Ruiz said. “This was point-blank murder. Just because you’re a police officer, it doesn’t give you the right to murder someone just because you’re frustrated with them.”
