Ricky Cobb II Case Returns to Headlines After Supreme Court Declines Appeal in Minnesota

 The Ricky Cobb II shooting case has returned to public attention after the U.S. Supreme Court declined on November 9, 2026, to hear an appeal brought by Cobb’s mother over his fatal 2023 traffic-stop shooting in Minneapolis. The decision leaves lower-court rulings in place and marks another significant chapter in a case that has drawn attention to police use of force, criminal prosecution, and civil rights.

Cobb, 33, was fatally shot by Minnesota State Patrol trooper Ryan Londregan during an early-morning stop on Interstate 94 on July 31, 2023. Trooper Brett Seide initially stopped Cobb for driving without headlights, and officers later learned that Cobb was wanted in connection with an alleged violation of a felony protection order. When troopers attempted to take him into custody, the encounter escalated around his vehicle. According to court records, Cobb put the vehicle in drive while Seide was partly inside, prompting Londregan to fire his weapon.

The vehicle moved forward before officers stopped it farther along the interstate, and Cobb was found unresponsive. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he died at the scene. Investigators recovered a handgun from inside Cobb’s vehicle, but available video did not show Cobb holding it. The shooting immediately raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the use of deadly force and became the subject of both criminal and civil proceedings.

Londregan was later charged with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree manslaughter. Prosecutors initially argued that the shooting was not justified, but Hennepin County prosecutors dismissed the criminal charges in June 2024 after concluding they could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors said the decision followed additional evidence and legal considerations, while emphasizing that dismissing the charges was not the same as declaring the shooting justified.

Cobb’s mother, Nyra Jean Miller-Fields, continued pursuing a federal civil lawsuit against Londregan and Seide. She alleged that the troopers violated Cobb’s constitutional rights through unreasonable seizure and excessive force. A federal district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, concluding the troopers were protected by qualified immunity, and the Eighth Circuit later upheld that decision after reviewing body- and dash-camera footage.

The federal appeal centered in part on whether lower courts could consider video evidence when deciding the lawsuit at the dismissal stage. Miller-Fields argued that the lower courts had improperly relied on body-camera footage before allowing the case to proceed to discovery. In July 2026, however, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, finding that the video evidence contradicted key aspects of the allegations and supported the officers’ qualified-immunity defense.

The Supreme Court’s November 9 decision not to hear the appeal leaves that lower-court ruling intact. The Court’s action does not amount to a new finding about every disputed aspect of the 2023 shooting; rather, it means the justices declined to review the federal civil case. The decision brings the latest legal challenge to an end at the Supreme Court, while the loss of Cobb remains a deeply personal matter for his family.

For Cobb’s loved ones, the legal proceedings have unfolded alongside the grief of losing a son and family member. His death during a traffic stop, the criminal case against Londregan, the later dismissal of those charges, and the civil lawsuit have kept the circumstances in public view for years. The Supreme Court’s decision now closes another chapter, but it cannot erase the loss at the center of the case. For those who continue to remember Ricky Cobb II, his death remains more than a legal dispute: it is a family tragedy whose consequences have continued long after that July morning, for his family today.