Family of Minnesota man killed by police criticizes local authorities and calls for federal government intervention

MICHAEL GOLDBERG, Associated Press

8 mins ago

Bakari Sellers, an attorney for the family of Ricky Cob II, a Black man killed by a Minnesota state trooper in July, speaks at a news conference Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Sellers and family members criticized local prosecutors for dropping a murder charge against the trooper this week. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nyra Fields-Miller was preparing breakfast for her family last weekend when prosecutors called, urging her to speak in person. Hours later, officials informed her that prosecutors were dropping murder and manslaughter charges against the Minnesota state trooper who shot and killed her son last summer.

On Tuesday, a day after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty defended her initial decision to file charges against the police officer who killed Ricky Cobb II and later dropped the charges, Cobb’s family said officers had failed them and once again failed to hold law enforcement accountable.

“Black people in this country often don’t get to see what justice looks like,” said Bakari Sellers, an attorney for the family. “And when we go down that path and are given some semblance of hope that it will be fair, we strive for it, only to be disappointed again.”

Sellers and Cobb’s family criticized Moriarty and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who has publicly feuded with the district attorney over the case. They also said the family plans to ask the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the shooting.

Cobb, a 33-year-old black man, died after white police officer Ryan Londregan shot him as he tried to drive away from a traffic stop. Officers stopped Cobb on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis on July 31 because the lights on his car were out. They then discovered that the Spring Lake Park man was wanted for violating a domestic contact order in neighboring Ramsey County. Londregan shot Cobb twice as he tried to drive away after officers asked him to get out of his car.

The shooting deepened political turmoil surrounding law enforcement in a city still reeling from the police killing of George Floyd four years ago. Voters elected Moriarty, a former county chief public defender, in 2022 on a platform of police reform.

On Monday, Walz told reporters he would have used his authority to take the case away from Moriarty and hand it over to the attorney general if she had not dropped the charges. She accused Walz of interfering in the case – a claim he denied.

Moriarty said a newly raised defense claim that Londregan believed Cobb reached for Londregan’s gun, as well as new testimony from State Patrol officials backing up the claim that the officer was following his training, made the case impossible to prove. On Tuesday, Sellers said body camera video of the incident should have shown prosecutors long ago what Londregan could use in his defense.

Cobb’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit in April, claiming the stop and shooting were unjustified. That lawsuit is still ongoing.

Holding officers accountable remains a major challenge, even in the district where Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s killing in 2020, said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality.

“Even after becoming the epicenter of an international movement against police brutality, our community still cannot get justice against police officers who use excessive force, including deadly force,” Gross said. “Once again, families are denied justice because this is a police officer and this is political.”

Londregan, who was released on an honorary parole, remains on paid leave while the State Patrol investigates the shooting. His attorney, Chris Madel, said the officer acted heroically and plans to return to police duty.

Appearing before reporters on Tuesday, Cobb’s family and supporters said he should still be alive.

“My son was a great son to me. He was an adult and he had ambitions. He was a father and a human being, a working human being,” Fields-Miller said. “Give it all some meaning.