Federal judge dismisses lawsuit over state trooper’s shooting death of Ricky Cobb – Twin Cities

A federal judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit against a Minnesota state trooper stemming from the fatal shooting of a man during an attempted traffic stop on a Twin Cities freeway last year.

Judge Nancy Brazel granted Trooper Ryan Londregan’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the family of Ricky Cobb II.

Cobb, 33, was pulled over on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis around 2 a.m. on July 31, 2023, after officers said they couldn’t see the taillights on his car. As officers entered the car to try to arrest Cobb on charges of violating a Ramsey County protective order, Cobb began to drive away. Londregan fired several shots into the car, fatally wounding Cobb.

The lawsuit, filed last April, alleged that Londregan and a second officer at the scene, Brett Seide, used excessive force and violated Cobb’s civil rights. Londregan filed his motion to dismiss in May, and a hearing on that motion was held in late July.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, Bracel wrote that the court “cannot conclude that Londregan violated a clearly established law when he decided to shoot Cobb.”

Bracel wrote that Londregan is entitled to qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects police and other officials from civil suits unless they knowingly violate a clearly established constitutional right.

Bracel also wrote that evidence from the scene contradicts the allegations made in the lawsuit and wrote that “it was objectively reasonable for the officer to use deadly force to neutralize what he reasonably believed was a risk of serious physical harm to others, in including a colleague.” officer”.

Londregan also faces criminal charges in connection with Cobb’s death. Those charges were dropped in June when Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty said it was impossible to prove unauthorized use of force.

Seide, the second trooper named in the Cobb family’s civil lawsuit, also filed a motion to dismiss the case. A hearing on this motion was held on October 9; a decision is awaited.