A Minnesota state trooper, Ryan Londregan, 27, was charged last week by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter for the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II, 33, of Plymouth, during a traffic stop.

Moriarty has never been suspected of having pro-law-enforcement leanings.

It happened about 2 a.m. July 31 last summer on Interstate 94 in North Minneapolis. A trooper noticed that Cobb was driving without lights, either tail or headlights. It’s been reported both ways. During the standard check of Cobb, the trooper learned that Cobb was wanted by Ramsey County on a probable-cause pickup related to violation of a domestic no-contact order earlier that weekend. That required the trooper, by law, to arrest Cobb.

This is what troopers do every night and every day, and they just never know what the next minute will bring.

The trooper returned to the car and attempted to get Cobb to cooperate and get out of the car. Cobb refused. Another patrol rolled up as backup after learning of the felony nature of the arrest. One of those two troopers was Londregan.

The initial trooper again asked Cobb to turn off his car, surrender his keys and exit the car. Told that he was under arrest, Cobb still refused to cooperate.

Londregan approached the car, saw what was happening and opened the passenger door. The initial trooper opened the driver’s door. Cobb didn’t like that. Londregan drew his handgun to cover the trooper trying pull Cobb out of the car.

Cobb attempted to drive away, a trooper clinging to the car on both sides. Londregan fired twice at Cobb as both troopers fell away from the car. Cobb drove a short distance and crashed.

Not at all incidentally, a gun was on the floor behind the console of Cobb’s car. It’s probably safe to assume that the gun is why Cobb didn’t want to get out of the car. A felon shall not be in possession of a gun, and included in Cobb’s criminal record is a felony for domestic assault and a felony for domestic assault by strangulation.

Moriarty said last week, “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. This did not exist in this case. Ricky Cobb II should be alive today.”

Apparently, bodily harm or death doesn’t apply if two patrol officers face bodily harm or death getting dragged by a car.

Mary Moriarty, why don’t you explain to the public how you would have handled it, what you would have done?

Because something is desperately wrong here. And we are less safe because of it. How can this be fixed? Do officers get three chances to ask nicely for cooperation? Are officers then obliged to let a suspect drive away, Ramsey County’s instructions be damned? If backup arrives, perhaps that patrol car could only be used to box in the suspect’s car. But should the backup officers just stay in their vehicle and not attempt to help?

It turned out to be a tragic night for both Cobb and Londregan.

And Moriarty is correct. Ricky Cobb II should be alive today.

He certainly had every chance to still be among us.

Joe Soucheray cam be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.

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