The family of Ricky Cobb II expressed dismay on Tuesday at the decision by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to drop the charges against the Minnesota State Trooper who fatally shot the 33-year-old Black man during a routine traffic stop last summer.
The family is now calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the Minnesota State Patrol.
“I’ve said this once before – justice? I knew that wasn’t going to happen,” said Ricky Cobb Sr., Cobb’s father. “The truth came out. Our taxpayer dollars pay for untrained, armed police officers to run these streets to protect us.”
Moriarty announced Sunday evening that her office filed a motion to drop the charges against Trooper Ryan Londregan after new evidence would have made it “impossible” for prosecutors to prove Londregan’s use of force was unauthorized. Specifically, she cited prospective testimony from Londregan that he saw Cobb reach for the other trooper’s gun during the altercation, and the claim from a Minnesota State Patrol trainer that he never instructed officers to avoid shooting into moving vehicles.
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The combination of those pieces of evidence would have prevented the prosecution from meeting the burden of proof to convict Londregan, she said.
“There are so many points at which Mr. Londregan could have handled the situation differently, and if he had, Ricky Cobb might still be alive. But that is not the question before us as prosecutors,” Moriarty said. “The only question is whether we can still prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred given this new evidence. The answer to that question is no, and I would violate my ethical duties if I nonetheless continued with the case.”
Londregan was charged with – and pleaded not guilty to – second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault.
Cobb was killed during a traffic stop last July on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis where he was stopped for non functioning taillights. The troopers on the scene then learned Cobb had a warrant for his arrest for violating a protective order in Ramsey County.
After refusing to exit his car, two troopers, including Londregan, reached into the vehicle to pull him out. The car started moving when Londregan shot into the vehicle, killing Cobb.
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“I’ve never been part of a case where an individual was charged with a crime then articulated his own defense, and then the prosecution says ‘hey we’re going to dismiss these charges because of what you’ve told us,’” said Bakari Sellers, a civil rights attorney representing Cobb’s family.
Moriarty said outside factors – including the killing of Minneapolis Police Officer Jamal Mitchell in the line of duty last week, and rumors that Gov. Tim Walz would take the case away from her office – did not have an effect on her decision to drop the charges. But she did criticize Walz for openly musing about whether he would intervene and reassign the case and said Tuesday that she believes the governor treats her differently because of her sexual orientation.
Walz earlier this week flatly denied those claims.
The Cobb family, however, believes Mitchell’s death last week did have a part to play in Moriarty’s decision to drop the charges against Londregan, citing the politicization of the case in recent months by elected officials and law enforcement organizations.
Sellers said a federal civil lawsuit is still moving forward, and called on the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, which has investigated dozens of police departments across the country – including the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of George Floyd – to step in and examine the State Patrol.
“I don’t think there’s any more glaring example of a department that needs to be investigated in the Minnesota State Patrol,” Sellers said. “We’re asking them to do that because if this continues, then you’ll have more innocent people killed and one of the things that I won’t do and this family won’t do is allow Ricky’s legacy to be in vain.”
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim is MinnPost’s environment and public safety reporter. He can be reached at mibrahim@minnpost.com.
