MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota state trooper was charged with murder Wednesday for shooting motorist Ricky Cobb II, who failed to get out of his car during a traffic stop in July and took his foot off the brake when officers tried to arrest him.
In announcing charges of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter, Hennepin County Prosecutor Mary Moriarty said Trooper Ryan Londregan’s use of deadly force against Cobb, a man 33-year-old black man, was not justified.
“Like all Minnesota law enforcement officers, state troopers may only use deadly force when necessary to protect a person from a specific identified threat of great bodily harm or death that was reasonably likely to occur. That did not exist in this case,” Moriarty said.
Londregan’s attorney, Chris Madel, called his client “a hero” and said Londregan, 27, was trying to protect himself and a fellow police officer. Madel filed papers requesting that the case be dismissed or at least that Moriarty be removed from the case.
“This county attorney is literally out of control. Open season on law enforcement must end. And it will end with this case,” Madel said in a video statement.
Londregan has not been arrested. Moriarty said his office will not seek to hold him out on bond, but he will ask the court to require him to surrender his passport and firearms. She expected her first court appearance to be scheduled for later this week or early next week.
The July 31 shooting occurred in Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd nearly four years ago sparked sometimes violent protests and a national reckoning over racial justice. In that case, Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years for second-degree murder.
The shooting has some similarities to the 2022 death of motorist Daunte Wright, who was trying to drive away from a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center when he was shot by Officer Kim Potter. Potter said he intended to use his Taser but accidentally grabbed his gun. He served about 16 months of a two-year sentence for second-degree murder.
Londregan shot Cobb after two other police officers stopped him on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis when he saw the lights were off on the Ford Fusion Cobb was driving, according to the criminal complaint.
One of the officers, Brett Seide, checked Cobb’s record and discovered that he was wanted for violating a protective order in neighboring Ramsey County. However, there was no outstanding warrant for his arrest, so deputies checked with Ramsey County officials to find out if they wanted Cobb taken into custody, according to the complaint.
Ramsey County asked for his arrest. By then, Londregan had already arrived.
Seide approached the driver’s side of Cobb’s car while Londregan walked to the passenger door, according to the complaint.
The officers asked Cobb to get out of the car, whose doors were locked and the front windows rolled down. Seide told Cobb that he was under arrest as Londregan reached inside him, opened the doors and began to open the passenger door. The complaint says Cobb then put the car in drive and took his foot off the brake.
According to the complaint, Cobb’s car began to move forward slowly. Londregan took the gun from him. Cobb stopped the car. The police officer pointed his gun at Cobb and yelled, “Get out of the car now!” Cobb took his foot off the brake again. In less than a second, Londregan fired his gun twice at Cobb, hitting him in the chest both times. the complaint said.
The car accelerated while Seide’s torso was still inside. Seide and Londregan tried to keep up with the car for several meters before falling. The car crashed into a concrete median about a quarter mile (400 meters) away.
Officers caught up with him, pulled Cobb out and attempted to take life-saving measures. Cobb was pronounced dead at the scene.
The defense filing cites written statements to investigators by Seide and Trooper Garrett Erickson that they believed deadly force was necessary.
“At that point, I knew that Officer Londregan and I were in danger of being hit by Cobb’s car, being hit by an oncoming car on the road or being swept away at a high rate of speed,” Seide said.
According to the complaint, State Patrol policy states that officers will not shoot at a moving vehicle except when deadly force is authorized, and that officers should not put themselves in a position that increases the risk that a vehicle being hit are getting closer to being able to be used. as a deadly weapon.
State Patrol Chief Col. Matt Langer said in a statement that Londergan will remain on paid leave during an ongoing internal affairs investigation.
“This is a sad situation for everyone involved,” Langer said. “We recognize the deep loss felt by Mr. Cobb’s family and friends. We also recognize the seriousness of this situation for the State Patrol and our troopers charged with making difficult split-second decisions.”
Cobb’s family and racial justice groups demanded in August that Democratic Gov. Tim Walz fire the three officers. His mother, Nyra Fields-Miller, and the family’s attorneys said the charges put authorities on notice that those who break the law will be held accountable.
“Ryan Londregan stole my son from me,” Fields-Miller said in a statement. “He shot Ricky and killed my son for no reason while he was defenseless. Nothing can ever make up for that. But today’s decision is the first step toward closure and justice.”
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association accused Moriarty of making a political decision to charge Londregan, noting that she ran on a platform critical of police, and said law enforcement officers elsewhere have been dragged into death during legal traffic stops.
“The resounding message I’m getting from the grassroots across the state is that there is a fear, a significant fear, especially in the last three years, and this has really solidified and provided an exclamation point, that you can go to prison . just for doing your job,” Imran Ali, general counsel for the association, said in an interview.
___ This story has been corrected to show in paragraph 14 that it was Londregan who fired his gun at Cobb.