Daily BrewN.S. drunk driver who killed two in crash arrested days after prison release
Just what do you do about an incorrigible homicidal booze hound who won't promise never to drink and drive, despite several years in prison to think about it?
That conundrum is being played out in Halifax this week, where police have once again arrested Michael Gerard Cooper after he breached his release conditions by walking into a liquor store Tuesday.
Cooper, 55, was released from prison just last week after serving every day of his seven-year sentence for the 2004 deaths of a young couple he crashed into while driving drunk.
He was denied early release a year ago after the Parole Board of Canada ruled it was too dangerous to let him out.
Cooper was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to two counts of impaired driving causing death. He killed 20-year-old Michael MacLean and his 19-year-old girlfriend Angela Smits after spending seven hours drinking in highway roadhouse.
Tests found his blood contained three times the legal level of alcohol when he collided with the couple's car. which burst into flames and consumed them, the Halifax Chronicle Herald reported at his last parole hearing.
“You admitted to your pattern of drinking and driving and stated that you would likely consume alcohol and drive a motor vehicle regardless of whether or not a special condition or a court order was imposed,” a parole board official wrote in the decision denying him release last March, The Canadian Press reported.
[ Relaed: Drunk driver Michael Gerard Cooper gets new look, new picture ]
The board found Cooper, who had a history of impaired driving, felt no remorse for the deaths of MacLean and Smits and had done nothing in prison to alter his thinking about his dangerous behaviour.
When his prison sentence expired on Jan. 22 and Cooper was free to go, authorities succeeded in imposing almost two dozen court-ordered conditions allowed in the law.
His conviction already included a lifetime driving ban but his release conditions barred Cooper from drinking alcohol, possessing it or entering anywhere it is sold for two years.
On Cooper's release, Halifax Regional Police took the unusual step of issuing a public warning about him, something usually reserved for sex offenders and violent criminals.
“It’s only used in exceptional cases when there is a risk that someone may reoffend and cause significant harms to the community,” Const. Pierre Bourdages told Metro News Halifax.
Smits' parents also urged that Cooper's photo be posted in liquor stores and bars. The Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. complied, which led a liquor-store employee to spot Cooper, first in a Halifax store parking lot, then entering the outlet itself.
"He just came in and was looking around but that in and of itself is enough to violate the terms of his release," corporation spokesman Mike Maloney told CBC News.
"I don't want to speculate what he was thinking when he was doing it but he didn't attempt to buy, that's what I can say at this point. He obviously wanted to take a look inside and like I said, he's not allowed to do that."
[ Related: Quebec to crack down on repeat impaired driving offenders ]
Police arrested Cooper at a nearby bus stop, CBC News said.
He was scheduled to make a court appearance Tuesday on two charges of breaching his recognizance.
Gerard Smits, Angela's father, told CP the short leash placed on Cooper, however temporary, is for the safety of the public in Nova Scotia.
“It’s pretty horrendous that someone could actually take the lives of two people, serve seven years in a penitentiary and have enough time to think about it and still come out and be that adamant that he’s going to do the same thing all over again," Smits said.
