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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

Patrol investigation clears Minnesota state trooper of wrongdoing in fatal shooting

man in suit stands in crowd
Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan stands among supporters after making his first court appearance on Jan. 29. Prosecutors dropped the charges in June, and an internal affairs investigation later cleared Londregan of wrongdoing.
Matt Sepic | MPR News

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The Minnesota state trooper who was charged with murder in connection with a July 2023 shooting is heading back to work after the State Patrol cleared him of wrongdoing.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June dismissed the case against trooper Ryan Londregan, 27, after an outside law firm determined that a jury was unlikely to convict him in the death of Ricky Cobb II.

Londregan fatally shot Cobb, 33, as he tried to flee a traffic stop involving three state troopers on I-94 north of downtown Minneapolis.

Another trooper, Brett Seide, stopped Cobb’s vehicle after seeing him driving on the interstate around 2 a.m. without taillights. The troopers ordered Cobb out of his car after learning that authorities in Ramsey County had sought him for allegedly violating a domestic violence protection order.

On Wednesday, Patrol Assistant Chief Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger sent Londregan a brief memo notifying him that an internal affairs investigation has “exonerated you of the allegations.”

In a phone interview with MPR News on Thursday, defense attorney Chris Madel said that Londregan is scheduled to meet with Patrol leaders on Friday and will be back on the job after catching up on mandatory training that is required of all troopers.

“He is chomping at the bit to get back to work. He is a true public servant, and he really loves helping people.”

Madel said Londregan’s supervisors have yet to determine where he’ll be posted when he resumes duty.

“I have encouraged him to stay out of Hennepin County for obvious reasons,” Madel said. “I told him that if he wanted to stay in Hennepin, however, I said I’m always available to do another case, but I don’t think he wants to do it.”

In a federal civil rights lawsuit, Cobb’s family alleges Londregan and Seide used excessive force. The Cobb family has also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the State Patrol.

Last week, Moriarty released 858 pages of documents from the case along with invoices from and the law firm’s invoices. The Houston-based firm Steptoe billed Hennepin County taxpayers more than $578,000 for 734 hours of work.