Michael Cooper was jailed for three years and seven months at Nottingham Crown Court after a crash in Etwall in September 2021 that killed James Bane. Derbyshire Constabulary had a serving officer behind the wheel of an unmarked police car when the collision happened.
James Bane, 50, died in the road and had two teenage children. Cooper had pleaded guilty last week to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Nottingham Crown Court sentencing
The sentence was passed on Friday at Nottingham Crown Court. The case moved from guilty plea to punishment in a week, ending with a custodial term of three years and seven months.
Samuel Skinner KC told the court that Cooper should not have been driving the unmarked police car that day because he had an unexplained medical history of blackouts that occurred without warning. He said Cooper had been told years earlier by a consultant neurologist not to drive and to inform the DVLA about those blackouts.
Etwall crash details
Cooper was on duty and using the black Peugeot 208 without authorisation after leaving Etwall Leisure Centre. He was not wearing a seatbelt. Car data showed his foot was pressed on the accelerator when the car swung to one side.
The impact hit Bane and a companion. The companion was struck and thrown into the air, then crushed between two parked cars shunted together by the force of the crash.
August 2024 misconduct finding
After the collision, Cooper was confused and told members of the public he was a painter and decorator and did not know who the prime minister was. In a later police interview, he suggested he may have passed out at the wheel. He refused officers permission to access his medical records.
In August 2024, Cooper was found to have committed gross misconduct and would have been dismissed from Derbyshire Police had he not already resigned. The case leaves the sentence as the immediate court outcome, with the medical question behind the blackouts still central to the record the court heard.
