Police officer's son who killed two men while high is sued by grieving family for £200,000 after horror crash

A POLICE officer's son who killed two men while high is being sued by the grieving family for £200,000 after the horror crash.

Max Coopey, now 20, was at the wheel of his dad's Audi when he drove into sales manager Jason Imi, 48, and his colleague John Shackley, 61, while heading from Ascot towards Virginia Water.

The two men, who were walking back from a work dinner, died instantly after being hit by Coopey and thrown over the roof of the vehicle in August 2018.

Then 17, Coopey was driving while over the limit for cannabis and had only passed his driving test two months earlier.

He had also been arrested for drug-driving just eight weeks before the crash and had five previous convictions for seven offences, including common assault and handling stolen goods.

Coopey was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving – but a police investigation concluded Mr Coopey was not responsible for the men's deaths.

An inquest heard evidence that the teen would have been unable to see the men until a second before impact, making the collision inevitable.

He was therefore just charged with drug driving and spared jail – and was made to pay £105 which they said his parents could pay.

But in March 2020, a coroner said she could not be sure beyond reasonable doubt that Coopey was speeding or that the drugs in his system impacted his driving.

However, Mr Imi's wife Sarah has since launched a civil action against Coopey for compensation over the death of her husband.

It was understood that Mr Shackley's family is also suing, according to the Mail.

Ms Imi's lawyers lodged court documents at the London County Court which state that the now 20-year-old was "driving under the influence of cannabis and opiates."

It also states that he was "negligent" in that he had failed to keep a proper lookout, drove with dipped rather than main beam headlights and drove too fast.

The claim was bought by Ms Imi and her three children – Ethan, Lily, and Noah.

The document says: "The First Defendant was driving well in excess of the speed limit and at such a speed which caught the two pedestrians by surprise affording them no reasonable opportunity to save themselves. There was no negligence on their part.

CRASH AGONY

"One of them was wearing light coloured clothing. They were moving and easily seen by the First Defendant who, by reason of his cannabis and opiate consumption continued to drive at an excessive speed and took no steps to avoid colliding with the pedestrians who had nearly completed their crossing of the road.

"As a result of the accident Jason Robert Imi was killed and his estate and dependants have suffered loss and damage."

Acromas Insurance Company Ltd, of London, the insurer of the Audi A5 car owned by Mr Coopey's father, Russel, provided a defence statement – and denied that the teen had been impaired while driving.

The defence, submitted by Stephen Foster of Kennedys Law LLP, added: "Both Mr Imi and Mr Shackley had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol prior to attempting to cross the A329.

"The point at which the pedestrians attempted to cross the road was very dark.

"The first defendant did observe the pedestrians and promptly attempted to brake his vehicle but was nevertheless reasonably unable to avoid the collision."

Allegations that Coopey should have sounded his horn or used his full-beam headlights were "unrealistic counsels of perfection", the insurers said.

The insurers also denied that Coopey's consumption of cannabis had "any causative relevance" to the collision.

Before driving on the night of the double fatal collision, Coopey took out a one-week deal with Veygo car sharing insurance.

LEGAL ACTION

Veygo, which is a brand by Admiral, provides cover for drivers who need access to a car but don't own one.

A spokesman for Admiral, on behalf of Veygo, said: "During the course of the investigation we discovered that Mr Coopey obtained the insurance policy with Veygo by failing to disclose that he had been involved in two previous road traffic accidents before taking out the policy.

"We do not offer cover to anyone under the age of 21 who discloses either a claim or a driving conviction.

"We found no record of his undisclosed convictions because they were too recent.

"We are satisfied that we did everything within reason to check Mr Coopey's background, and are certain that we would have rejected his application for insurance if he had been honest and his driving history had been revealed at the time."

Coopey had been jailed for 12 weeks in October 2019 after he was convicted of illegally driving while banned.

His conviction was squashed on appeal – and he walked free after just one week.

We pay for your stories!

Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?

Email us at [email protected] or call 02077824104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours

Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.

Source: Read Full Article