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Crime, Law and Justice
Tim Nelson

State trooper kills man in confrontation along I-94 in Minneapolis

A traffic camera shows an empty highway with police vehicles.
Police vehicles are shown on Interstate 94 Monday morning near Dowling Avenue. The Minnesota State Patrol says a trooper killed a man suspected of a felony-level offense in Ramsey County. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.
Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Updated: 3 p.m. Aug. 1 | Posted: 5:52 a.m. July 31

Content warning: MPR News has linked to body camera footage from the Minnesota Department of Transportation below. It contains violent material and viewer discretion is advised.

A Minnesota state trooper shot and killed a motorist on Interstate 94 Monday morning.

The trooper, on patrol in Minneapolis at about 2 a.m., spotted a car without visible taillights and pulled the car over on westbound I-94, north of downtown Minneapolis, the Minnesota State Patrol said in a statement Monday afternoon.

The driver was found to be wanted in Ramsey County on a suspected felony-level offense and attempted to take him into custody, the patrol said, adding that the driver refused to exit the vehicle and drove away.

At least one trooper fired during the incident, and a Minnesota Department of Transportation camera video shows patrol cruisers pursuing the fleeing car, later boxed in against the median near the 42nd Avenue bridge over the interstate. The driver died.

Black Lives Matter activists identified the man as 33-year-old Ricky Cobb of Minneapolis. They were planning a vigil for him at North Mississippi Regional Park on Monday night, a short distance from where his car was finally brought to a halt on the side of the freeway.

Three troopers are on administrative leave; body and squad cameras were running, the State Patrol said.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating. The patrol said video of the incident will be released after family members of the man who was killed are allowed to review the tape.

A spokesperson for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office confirmed that it had issued an alert to Minnesota law enforcement for the apprehension of Cobb.

The alert said he was wanted for violating an order for protection, a felony. The "attempt to locate" alert asked any police that encountered him to detain him and contact Ramsey County.

A police report on the incident said Ramsey County deputies had been looking for him since last Wednesday, when they had been called to an apartment building in Vadnais Heights on a complaint about the alleged violation of the order.