By Steve Pomper
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty (Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
In March, the NPA published an article about another prosecutor wrongly charging a cop. I wrote, “The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) and an accused trooper’s defense team are accusing Hennepin County Attorney (HCAO) Mary Moriarty of concealing exculpatory evidence that established MN. State Trooper Ryan Londregan acted to save his partner’s life when he shot suspect Ricky Cobb II in 2023.”
In this happy follow-up, we hope the NPA and other cop defenders’ efforts had an influence on Moriarty’s decision to drop murder charges against the Trooper by broadcasting her apparent malfeasance far and wide. But whatever pressure caused her to do the right thing, which she wouldn’t have done it unless she felt forced, the Londregan family can now finally exhale.
Briefly, in 2023, Trooper Londregan and his partner, Trooper Brett Seide, were attempting to take a suspect with a warrant for violating a domestic violence protection order into custody. The troopers were partially within Cobb’s vehicle, Londregan in the front driver’s side and Seide in the front passenger’s seat, lawfully attempting to arrest the resisting Cobb and prevent him from escaping in his running vehicle.
Some say Cobb was “unarmed” at the time Londregan was forced to shoot the suspect to protect himself and his partner. But Cobb was armed with a car every bit as deadly as if he’d pointed a gun at the troopers. Foot on a gas pedal or a finger on a trigger. What’s the difference?
Next, Cobb “pulled the trigger” (stepped on the gas), and the car surged forward, knocking the troopers sprawling onto the pavement. During that split-second, Londregan fired his weapon, striking the suspect. At that point, Trooper Londregan could not know if his partner was being dragged or run over, as the car continued down the road before other troopers used patrol vehicles to stop the suspect’s car.
Watch the video posted by the AP. If Cobb was willing to drive away with two cops hanging onto his car, what would he be willing to do to you?
Farmington (MN) Police Chief Gary Rutherford described the incident eloquently.
After this inspiring act of bravery by both troopers, especially when contrasted with Cobb’s act of depraved indifference, Hennepin County Attorney (HCAO) Mary Moriarty focused her sympathy and pursuit of “justice” on the suspect and his family rather than on the cops and theirs.
This was after, as the New York Post’s Olivia Land wrote, Moriarty took “office in January promising to ‘deliver more safety and more justice’ to the community.”
Instead, Land also wrote, “Minneapolis’ progressive district attorney is under fire for her woke policies that allow accused rapists, pedophiles and killers to stay free….”
Moriarty set heinous criminals free while she charged Trooper Londregan with murder for—let’s say it loud enough for the ignorant and the radical cop-hating goons in the back—doing his job!
The allegations of hiding of exculpatory evidence came when it was discovered that Moriarty’s office had unprofessionally disassociated itself from a respected expert witness it had contracted. It seems their expert’s investigation didn’t agree with Moriarty’s chosen narrative: criminal saint, cop devil. It agreed with the trooper’s version (and the video) of the events.
In “An open letter from… Moriarty,” she wrote, petulantly, “Our decision to not go ahead with charges does not exonerate Trooper Londegran [sic].”
Moriarty may not understand or want to understand a cop’s perspective, but many ordinary people do.
“Deranged and unhinged…” is how the MN House Republicans described Moriarty’s comparing “Trooper Londregan’s supporters who peacefully protested outside the court… to January 6th rioters.” Cop Derangement Syndrome?
A former federal prosecutor and Marine Corps veteran from Minnesota, Joe Teirab, reminds us of what most cops find obvious about this case. “These charges never should have been brought in the first place.” However, Teirab is more generous than I am, also posting, “She’s incompetent and must resign.”
The second part is a definite yes, she must resign. But doesn’t attributing her anti-cop actions to incompetence kinda-sorta let her off the hook? If only she were ignorant. But I attribute her actions to a conscious decision to misuse the legal system by hunting down and prosecuting cops.