Backlash Over Dropped Charges in Ricky Cobb II Shooting

Attorneys for the family of Ricky Cobb II, a Black man fatally shot by a Minnesota state trooper, accused prosecutors of succumbing to political pressure after charges were dropped against the trooper. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office cited the difficulty in meeting the burden of proof at trial given the trooper's self-defense claim.

Attorneys for the family of a Black U.S. man shot dead by a Minnesota state trooper accused prosecutors on Monday of bowing to political pressure in dropping the charges. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office on Sunday dismissed charges of unintentional murder and manslaughter against State Trooper Ryan Londregan in the 2023 shooting death of Ricky Cobb II, citing Londregan's intention to testify that he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors said dropping charges did not exonerate Londregan, but they no longer believed they could meet their burden of proof at trial given his expected testimony.

"While we are disappointed, we are not surprised because, like many, we have come to expect the absence of justice and accountability when Black lives are lost in this country," attorneys representing the Cobb family said in a statement. "Instead of prosecuting him for murder, the County Attorney's Office has bowed to political pressure to drop the charges," attorneys Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and F. Clayton Tyler said without elaborating on how the office may have been pressured.

Troopers stopped Cobb on July 31, 2023, for driving at night without headlights. The troopers told Cobb, 33, he was wanted for an offense in another county and that they planned to arrest him, according to the complaint filed against Londregan. Londregan shot Cobb twice after Cobb put the car in gear and took his foot off the brake as another trooper reached inside the vehicle, trying to unbuckle his seatbelt, the complaint said. Cobb's killing took place in Minneapolis, the same city where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in 2020. The Floyd killing set off racial justice protests around the world, casting a spotlight on police killings of Black people. The Minneapolis area also experienced police killings of Black men in 2016 and 2021.

In a press conference on Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the decision to drop charges came after Londregan's defense team told the court in April the trooper planned to tell the jury he shot Cobb during a traffic stop because he thought Cobb reached for his service pistol, putting a fellow officer in imminent danger. "We do not believe we would have even made it to a jury," Moriarty said.

Londregan's attorney, Christopher Madel, responded to the dropping of charges on Sunday by saying in an email, "It's about goddamned time."

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