State patrol releases footage showing moments before Cobb’s death

The Minnesota State Patrol’s release of video footage showing the final moments of Ricky Cobb II’s life confirmed what Toshira Garraway had believed happened to Cobb as he was pulled over. 

“He was murdered unjustifiably,” said Garraway, whose organization Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence is supporting Cobb’s next of kin as they grieve over Cobb’s death. 

Body and dashboard camera footage released from the state patrol’s encounter with Cobb on Tuesday afternoon showed an apparently anxious and frustrated Cobb wondering why he was being detained when confronted by the state patrol.

At 1:50 a.m. on  July 31, state troopers, who were parked on Interstate 94 just north of downtown Minneapolis looking for inebriated drivers leaving downtown Minneapolis in their normal course of overnight work, pulled Cobb over for driving without lights on. A still photo they released showed Cobb driving without lights on. Body camera footage of troopers approaching his vehicle show Cobb subsequently turned his vehicles’ lights on.

Although it appears state patrol released the videos at the request of surviving family members, a new state law passed by the legislature this session requires law enforcement entities to release redacted videos of use-of-force incidents to relatives of those involved within five days, unless doing so would interfere with an investigation.

The released videos show a trooper, who remains unidentified, deciding to ask Cobb to step out of his vehicle after learning Ramsey County had a hold request for violating an order of protection. Shortly after returning to Cobb, the trooper told Cobb, “I’m gonna need you to step out of the vehicle. We just have some stuff to talk about.” A frustrated Cobb, upon hearing of the hold request, asked why, with the trooper continuing to tell him to step out of the vehicle as he tried to contact his lawyer. 

“Every time y’all talk about ‘we have some stuff to talk about,’ y’all finna take me to jail. But for what,” asked Cobb. Troopers never said why he was being detained and whether or not he had an outstanding warrant until Cobb asked. The trooper who spoke to Cobb asked for his keys and eventually decided to arrest him after failing to get him to comply. “This is now a lawful arrest,” said the trooper, who never explained why he was being arrested. 

The trooper then opens the driver’s side door and attempts to wrestle Cobb out of his seat as Cobb shifts his vehicle into drive. Another trooper, standing by the side of the passenger door, opens the door and aims a gun at Cobb. The passenger-side trooper yells “get out of the car now” immediately before firing three shots at Cobb. Cobb drives off as he is shot, briefly dragging the two troopers. Cobb did not appear to be armed.

The deputies then tried to chase Cobb’s vehicle, then ran back to their own vehicle to catch up to Cobb. Subsequently, Cobb crashed onto a freeway divider at 42nd Avenue N by the time troopers arrived and boxed his vehicle in. Cobb died at the scene about an hour after the encounter began, with the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruling that he died from multiple gunshot wounds. 

“This is just a tremendously sad situation,” said Col. Matt Langer at a press conference in St. Paul, announcing the release of the video footage on Tuesday. 

Activists are demanding that the Department of Public Safety release unedited, unredacted body camera footage that shows the state troopers’ interaction with Cobb from start to finish. The Department of Public Safety plans to release the identities of those involved with Cobb’s death, as well as more body camera footage and what troopers recovered from Cobb’s vehicle as the BCA wraps up their investigation by the end of the week. 

Although MnDOT cameras captured part of the incident, activists allege that the footage was edited. A MnDOT spokesperson said they do not edit footage, and that cameras similar to the one that recorded the incident only comprise one individual camera that turns around to record different parts of the freeway at a time. The spokesperson also said such footage is public and can be requested through the agency’s data practices request form online. 

At a protest near the crash site, at 42nd Avenue N and Lyndale Avenue N, members of Cobb’s family expressed gratitude to the 40 or so demonstrators who showed up to express their frustrations with policing and recounted memories they had of him while he was alive. 

“He was our protector. He did a lot for us, his family, his kids. He did my math homework,” said Cobb’s sister. “And potty trained her,” added Cobb’s mother Nyra Fields-Miller. 

“I lived zero to 33 with a man I can’t go 34 and over with,” said Cobb’s twin brother Rashad Cobb.