Star Tribune
Cobb family’s supporters offer legal, spiritual praise for murder charges against trooper
Bookended with prayers that echoed in the atrium of the Hennepin County Government Center, Ricky Cobb Jr.’s family members voiced gratitude that the state trooper who shot their loved during a traffic stop last summer in Minneapolis now stands charged with murder.
“The bells of justice have now started ringing,” said Atlanta attorney Harry Daniels, speaking on behalf of Cobb’s family in the atrium of the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the decision Wednesday to charge trooper Ryan Londregan with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree manslaughter in the July 31 shooting of Cobb, 33, of Plymouth. Cobb was pulled over about 2 a.m. on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights.
“I want to think the District Attorney’s Office for the bravery and courage, despite the naysayers’ polarizing comments,” Daniels said. “It shouldn’t matter if you wear a badge, a shield or a star. It’s not a Black and white thing, not matter who wants to make it a Black and white thing. It’s a law enforcement vs. citizen thing. … It’s about right and wrong.”
During the stop, troopers attempted to remove Cobb from the vehicle after learning he had been accused of violating a standing domestic order for protection out of Ramsey County. As the car started moving, dragging along another trooper, Londregan shot Cobb.
Surrounded by Cobb’s family members and other there to hold them up, Daniels brushed aside comments he’s hearing that Londregan was a hero who was only trying to protect his partner.
“‘Why are we prosecuting a hero?’ ” Daniels quoted those who defended Londregan. “Well, there was a hero on that day. Because as the defendant was firing his [gun], Ricky was shielding … the partner from bullets. Think about that. As the other officer reached around, his partner was shooting. But for Ricky’s body, the other officer would have been shot.”
Ricky Cobb Sr., with his pastor standing nearby, confessed as strangers passed by and news media chronicled, “I was probably not the best father, but I was there, like I’m here now.”
He said his hope is not so much for justice, but “I’d rather have the truth. Justice is on my back burner, but that’s just me personally.”
He also asked himself rhetorically whether collecting money in connection with his son’s death matters to him.
“Is it about money?,” Cobb Sr. said. “No. I’d take all of it back. Give me my son for one minute, one minute.”
The final words were left to Pastor Madalyn Fields, who counts the Cobb family among her congregation at Immanuel Baptist Tabernacle in Robbinsdale.
Fields offered up prayers for the Cobb family and Moriarty’s staff “that You would bless that they have the strength and the courage to right the wrong.”
Fields made sure to include prayers for the trooper who shot Cobb.
“We pray, oh God, that you would stir in his heart and that he would stand and decide that right is right and wrong is wrong. We ask that you would bless him and bless his family, for God we too know that only love will cause this world to change in the direction that it is going.”
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
