Mother of Ricky Cobb II files POST complaint, lawyers say

Civil rights attorneys representing the family of a man who was fatally shot during a summer traffic stop on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis say a formal complaint has been filed against the officers.

Ricky Cobb II was pulled over for driving without taillights on July 31, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Authorities say the involved troopers then learned that there was an active KOPS alert for Cobb and tried to get him out of the car to question him. However, Cobb refused to get out and started to drive away and was shot and killed by the troopers.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has been reviewing the findings of the case since September but has yet to announce any charging decision.

Cobb’s family is being represented by nationally known civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers and Harry Daniels as well as F. Clayton Tyler, who said Wednesday that Cobb’s mother, Nyra Fields-Miller, formally filed a complaint with the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), alleging that Trooper Ryan Londregan failed to comply with use-of-force laws. The complaint alleges that Cobb wasn’t armed and didn’t pose any threat to the troopers.

POST complaints can lead to discipline against officers, ranging from a reprimand to a revoked license. However, the POST Board declined to confirm whether a complaint was actually filed in Cobb’s case, stating that inactive complaints are private and active complaints are confidential under state law.

If disciplinary action against the troopers is taken, it would then become public.

If the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office were to charge and convict the troopers of a felony, that would also result in the revocation of their licenses, according to state law.