A Minnesota State Patrol trooper has been charged with murder Wednesday in the shooting death of motorist Ricky Cobb II during a July traffic stop.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference that her office charged Trooper Ryan Londregan with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second degree manslaughter in the death of Cobb.
"As with all Minnesota law enforcement officers, state troopers may only use deadly force when it is necessary to protect a person from a specific identified threat of great bodily harm or death that was reasonably likely to occur. That did not exist in this case. Ricky Cobb II should be alive today," Moriarty said.
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Londregan shot Cobb after he refused to leave his car during a stop on a Minneapolis freeway, according to the Minnesota Public Safety Department’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates police shootings.
Trooper Brett Seide initially pulled Cobb over when he saw the taillights were out on the Ford Fusion Cobb was driving, according to the bureau.
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The bureau has said previously that Seide checked Cobb’s record and found he was wanted for a "probable cause arrest for a felony order-for-protection violation" issued by the nearby Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.
Londregan and Trooper Garrett Erickson arrived later and helped as Seide tried to pull Cobb out of the car before Londregan shot him and Cobb drove away. The vehicle Cobb was driving stopped on the interstate shortly after that, and the bureau said the troopers attempted to save Cobb. He died at the scene.
