A Minnesota state trooper who shot and killed a Black man during a traffic stop last July has had the charges against him dismissed.
Ryan Londregan, the white trooper accused of killing Ricky Cobb II, 33, was initially charged with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty to these charges.
On Sunday night, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that the charges would be dropped. This decision came after the defense argued that Londregan would testify he saw Cobb “reach for the trooper’s firearm,” and a state patrol trainer said officers were not instructed to avoid shooting into a moving vehicle.
Due to this new evidence, prosecutors felt they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Londregan’s actions were not justified as a peace officer, so they decided to drop the case.
Moriarty expressed her regret in a Monday morning press conference, stating that Ricky Cobb should still be alive. She apologized to Cobb’s family and the community for not being able to bring the case to trial.
Civil rights attorneys representing Cobb’s family criticized the county attorney’s office, accusing them of succumbing to political pressure to dismiss the charges. They claimed that the prosecutors’ excuses were unconvincing.
Cobb was pulled over on July 31, 2023, because his taillights were out. Troopers then discovered he was wanted for violating a protective order and attempted to detain him. Bodycam footage shows Cobb refusing to exit the car and trying to drive away. Londregan then shot multiple times at Cobb, who drove a short distance before crashing and dying at the scene.
Londregan’s attorney, Christopher Madel, called Moriarty’s claim that her team was unaware of the trooper’s defense “absurd” and demanded her resignation for comparing Londregan’s supporters to “Jan. 6” rioters.
Cobb’s family filed a federal lawsuit in April against Londregan and another trooper involved in the stop, accusing them of “unreasonable seizure” and “excessive use of force.”
In a press conference, the mother of Cobb’s 7-year-old son, Olivia Stroh, shared the trauma her son is experiencing and called for justice. She described the pain of explaining to her son that a police officer had shot his father.
Cobb’s father, Ricky Cobb Jr., also spoke at a January press conference about the difficulty of staying strong for his family after losing his son.