The Supreme Court’s move sounds dramatic, but it was actually a decision not to step in. In practical terms, that means the lower court outcome stays exactly where it was.
For Ricky Cobb II’s family, the result is a major legal setback. For everyone else following the case since the July 31, 2023 traffic stop on Interstate 94 in Minneapolis, the big question is what happens now.
What the Supreme Court actually did
On November 10, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal brought by Nyra Miller-Fields, the mother of Ricky Cobb II. That decision did not create a new national ruling about police force, and it did not revisit the facts of the shooting. It simply left the earlier dismissal of her lawsuit in place.
The civil suit targeted Minnesota State Patrol troopers Ryan Londregan and Brett Seide over Cobb’s death during the July 2023 stop. Miller-Fields argued the troopers unreasonably seized Cobb and used excessive deadly force. Her appeal asked the justices to review whether those claims should be allowed to go forward.
Because the court declined review, the lower court ruling stands as the final word in this case. That is an important distinction. The justices did not endorse the troopers’ conduct in a fresh opinion, but they also did not reopen the family’s path to sue them in this lawsuit.
How the shooting and legal fight unfolded
Body camera footage from the July 31, 2023 stop shows troopers pulling over Cobb on Interstate 94 because he was driving without his lights on. During the stop, they learned Cobb had an outstanding warrant in Ramsey County. When troopers moved to arrest him, Cobb put the car in gear and began to drive away.
Londregan then fired multiple shots into Cobb’s vehicle, according to the case record described in the lawsuit. The vehicle rolled forward and struck the median before stopping. Cobb, a Black man, died from the shooting, and the case quickly became one of the most closely watched police use-of-force incidents in Minnesota.
In April 2024, prosecutors charged Londregan with murder and manslaughter. But in June 2025, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office dropped those charges after County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the state could no longer meet its burden of proof after consulting a use-of-force expert.
What happens now
The immediate effect is that the family’s federal civil case against Londregan and Seide is over. A judge had already dismissed the suit in early 2025, and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the appeal means that dismissal remains intact. There is no new trial, no new hearing on the merits, and no new Supreme Court analysis of the shooting itself.
That leaves the case where other parts of the system had already placed it. In 2025, the Minnesota State Patrol’s internal investigation exonerated Londregan exactly 1 year after Cobb’s death. So by November 2026, the criminal case had been dropped, the internal review had cleared the trooper, and the family’s civil appeal had reached a dead end.
For the public, the takeaway is narrower than it may sound. The Supreme Court did not rule that the shooting was justified. It ruled on nothing substantive at all, beyond choosing not to hear the appeal. Legally, what happens now is mostly closure in court, even if the broader public debate in Minneapolis and beyond is far from settled.
