Family of Ricky Cobb II files POST Board complaint
MINNEAPOLIS — The family of Ricky Cobb II, a Black man who was killed by a state trooper during a traffic stop in July, filed a complaint with the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board, arguing that Trooper Ryan Londregan's use of deadly force did not comply with state statutes.
Cobb, 33, was pulled over in the early hours of July 31 on Interstate 94 near Lowry Avenue for not having his tail lights on, according to the Department of Public Safety. They said he was wanted in Ramsey County for violating a no-contact order in a domestic case.
According to body camera and squad car footage, three troopers approached his car. They asked him to step out of the car, and when Cobb asked if it was because of a warrant, the trooper on the driver's side of his car said no. Cobb then asked if he could call his attorney, but the trooper refused and told him to hand over the keys of his car, and get out.
Then the troopers on the driver's side and passenger side of the car both opened the doors, and the trooper on the driver's side tried to pull Cobb out, video footage shows. Then Londregan, who was standing on the passenger side, pulled out his gun and fired two rounds. Cobb died after a short pursuit on the highway.
Nyra Fields-Miller, Cobb's mother, filed the complaint with the POST board in December. In it, she argued that Londregan's use of deadly force was in violation of state statutes, because Cobb did not present a threat of harm to the troopers.
"First, the troopers were standing to the side and rear of the vehicle and were thus not in the path of the vehicle," she wrote. "Second, Ricky was not armed and made no threats to the troopers."
Investigators said they found a gun in the back of the car following the shooting, though it wasn't clear who it belonged to.
She also contended that no trooper tried to deescalate the situation when Londregan pulled his gun. This, she said, violated a state statute that requires a peace officer to intervene when seeing another officer illegally use deadly force.
Fields-Miller then asked the POST Board to investigate Londregan and the other two officers.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she received Cobb's case from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in September, though she added some state patrol employees "refused to cooperate" with the BCA's investigation.
"It's been six months since that trooper killed my son but it might as well have been six minutes because the pain doesn't go away," said Fields-Miller. "But we can't forget because, if we do, it will happen to anyone else."
After the shooting, family members called for the troopers to be charged and fired. They were placed on standard administrative leave after the shooting.
WCCO reached out to the POST Board for a statement, which reads:
Inactive complaints are classified as private data under Minn. Stat. 13.41 sub 2
Active complaints are classified as confidential data under Minn. Stat. 13.41 sub 4
As such we cannot confirm the existence of any complaint to the POST board. If and when disciplinary action is taken by the Board, the data becomes public information.
Note: The above video first aired on Oct. 18, 2023