An annually held racial justice protest briefly halted traffic and blocked the main entrance to the Minnesota State Fair Wednesday night.
The Great Minnesota Justice Get Together was held this year in the Twin Cities’ Hamline Park just down Snelling Avenue from the Minnesota State Fairground.
Protesters rolled up to the entrance of the fairground in cars and on motorbikes at around 7:45 p.m. local time, according to KMSP-TV. Traffic was blocked in both directions for about 40 minutes, with the scene being clear by 9 p.m. local time.
The description of the protest event on Facebook mentions solidarity with the victims of the recent Dollar General store shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as a laundry list of left-wing causes.
“Demand Justice for all stolen lives, oppressed people everywhere, antiwar efforts, Black trans rights, immigrant rights, climate justice, reparations for ADOS, and Free All Political Prisoners,” the post reads. ADOS stands for American Descendants of Slaves.
The event description also explains that the Great Minnesota Justice Get Together began in August 2015 to protest the fatal shooting of Marcus Golden, a Black man, by a St. Paul Police Department officer in January of that year.
A grand jury chose not to indict the officers involved after an internal police investigation. Golden’s family and supporters, doing their own investigation, contended there were discrepancies in the evidence; the city of St. Paul settled with the Golden family for $1.3 million in January, making no admission of liability and denying all of their allegations.
Discussion on the Facebook event page for the protest revealed a more recent reason for Black Lives Matter Minnesota and other community and social justice organizations to act — the recent killing of Ricky Cobb II.
Cobb, 33, a Black man from St. Cloud, Minnesota, was fatally shot by Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Ryan Londregan in the early hours of July 31 during a traffic stop on U.S. Interstate 94, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said.
Trooper Londregan and the other two officers involved, Trooper Brett Seide who initiated the traffic stop and Trooper Garrett Erickson, are all now on administrative leave as the investigation into Cobb’s death continues, the BCA said.
Trooper Seide initiated the traffic stop at around 1:50 a.m., purportedly because the rear lights on Cobb’s car were out. After pulling the car over, Trooper Seide learned that Cobb was wanted on probable cause arrest in Ramsey County for an alleged felony violation of a protective order, BCA said.
As seen on body camera and dash camera footage released by the Minnesota State Patrol and uploaded to YouTube by KARE-TV, the three officers went back to Cobb’s vehicle after discussing the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office’s request for his arrest.
Trooper Seide went to the driver’s side, Trooper Erickson behind the car, and Trooper Londregan to the passenger side.
When Cobb refused to exit, Trooper Seide and Trooper Londregan opened the car doors and leaned in in an attempt to remove Cobb themselves.
Cobb purportedly reached to shift the car from park to drive; it was then that Trooper Londregan opened fire, BCA said.
Trooper Londregan and Trooper Seide were knocked to the ground as Cobb pulled away. After the police caught up to Cobb’s car a quarter-mile down the road resting against the interior divider, life-saving care was attempted on Cobb before he died at the scene, BCA said.
While a gun, two shell casings and a cellphone were found on the floor of the backseat of Cobb’s car, he is not shown holding it in any of the body camera footage released to the public, BCA said.
Once the investigation concludes, BCA will present its findings to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, sans charging recommendation.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.