Public Warning Issued to Avoid Drunk Driver Risking Re-offense

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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In a public warning issued by the Halifax Regional Police, it explained that a man released from penitentiary after spending seven years in jail for drunk driving causing death, Michael Gerard Cooper, is at high risk to reoffend. The public notice issued on Tuesday mentioned that Mr. Cooper is expected to be living somewhere in the Halifax area.

Despite having had spent seven years in jail as a punishment of his offense, 55-year-old Cooper claims that he intends to continue drinking and driving. In 2007, Cooper confessed to have has caused the deaths of 19-year-old Angela Smits and her 20-year-old boyfriend Michael MacLean. According to the evidence provided during the trial, it was distinguished that Cooper had been drinking for hours in a St. Peter’s bar before getting behind the wheel to drive home in May 2004. However, while driving home, he crossed the centre line and hit MacLean’s car to cause the couple’s death right at the scene. Consequently, he was sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from driving for 99 years.

The parole board denied his early release last march, explaining that “your lack of progress during the past year has been demonstrated by your continued rigid thinking to the effect that you cannot commit to refraining from impaired driving.” As a result of him bluntly showing no regret, Angela Smits’ parents, Gerard and Patricia Smits, requested the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp., the province’s Utility and Review Board and the alcohol and gaming division to make sure Cooper isn’t able to buy alcohol anymore.