Court dismisses civil lawsuit filed by family of Ricky Cobb II, man killed by Minnesota state trooper
MINNEAPOLIS — Court documents reveal that the civil lawsuit filled by the family of Ricky Cobb II, who was killed in July 2023 by state trooper Ryan Londregan, has been dismissed.
The family of Cobb filed the federal civil rights lawsuit back in April. The lawsuit accused Londregan and trooper Brett Seide of unreasonable seizure and excessive use of force in violation of Cobb's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In the early hours of July 31, 2023, Londregan and Seide pulled Cobb, 33, over on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis for not having his tail lights on. At the time, Cobb was wanted by Ramsey County law enforcement for violating a no-contact order in a domestic case. The interaction with the troopers ended when Londregan shot Cobb in the chest.
Londregan sought a dismissal of the unlawful seizure and excessive force claims in the lawsuit on the grounds of qualified immunity — a legal doctrine that protects government officials from lawsuits alleging the official violated a person's rights.
According to court documents, several of the charges made against Londregan fall under the statute of qualified immunity and can be seen in videos of the incident. This includes Londregan assisting in the attempt to take Cobb into custody based of the reliable request from the Ramsey County Sheriff's office to "hold" Cobb.
The court documents also state that there were no violations of Cobb's Fourth Amendment rights when squad cars boxed in Cobb due to the reasonable belief that he was fleeing and was a threat to others' safety unless stopped.
The documents go on to say that Londregan is entitled to qualified immunity as his conduct did not violate a constitutional right.
In a statement, Lodregan's attorney Chris Madel said, "It has been a long, grueling journey to justice. Trooper Ryan Londregan has finally arrived."
Criminal charges against Londregan were dropped in June of this year after the Hennepin County Attorney's Office determined it could no longer meet its burden of proof. Londregan returned to work in August of this year.