Max Coopey allegedly assaulted a press photographer as he arrived for the inquests into the deaths of the men he killed,today
An 18-year-old drug-driver who hit and killed two men after smoking cannabis but escaped jail arrogantly told a lawyer at the men’s inquest today to ‘Google it’ after insisting the cannabis in his bloodstream had not impaired his driving.
Max Coopey, 18, hit and killed two pedestrians while driving his parents’ Audi near Ascot last August, after smoking cannabis with friends.
Coopey, who is the son of two police officers, was not prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving and only received a community service order for the crime of drug driving at his trial in February.
Today outside the inquest into the men’s deaths he allegedly assaulted a press photographer, swearing and spitting at him before trying to rip the camera from his neck.
Coopey was over the drug-driving limit for cannabis when he hit and killed Jason Imi, 48, and John Shackley, 61, who were away from home on a work golf trip on August 2 last year.
The 18-year-old, who was a juvenile at the time, had only passed his driving test two months before the fatal collision and already had a string of convictions, mainly for drugs.
John Shackley, 61, left, and Jason Imi, 4, right, were killed as they walked back from an evening meal with colleagues
Jason Imi with his wife of 18 years, Sarah. She said in court that their future together had been stolen from them
He swore at a press photographer before allegedly grabbing his cameras and spitting at him
The inquest heard that in the collision in August last year the car the two men with such force as they crossed the road that they were thrown over the top of the Audi and died instantly on impact with the ground.
Despite killing both men with his car Coopey, whose parents Russel Coopey and Catherine were both police officers, was only charged with drug-driving after he was arrested at the scene and found to have 3.3 mcg of cannabis in his bloodstream – above the legal limit of 2 mcg.
He told an inquest today: ‘Just because something is in your blood doesn’t mean you’re under the influence of it and it can impair your ability to drive and that is in any research.
‘Google it and you can find it,’ he told the coroner and legal representatives at the hearing.
Mr Coopey had been advised by Alison McCormick, the assistant coroner for Berkshire, that he did not need to provide the answer to a question posed by a lawyer for Mr Imi’s family, Nicholas Hinchliffe QC.
Mr Hinchliffe put to the teenager that he had been found to have cannabis and traces of the sedative drug codeine in his system.
The lawyer had asked: ‘Did you know that opiates were a sedative found in your blood system? Did you know that a combination of cannabis and opiates can impair your ability to drive safely?’
Mr Coopey said: ‘I don’t have to answer that question.’
Mr Hinchliffe agreed and then added Mr Coopey could answer the question if he wanted to, at which point Mr Coopey said: ‘Any drug combination can affect your ability to drive safely, but I wasn’t, in my opinion, under the influence of cannabis.’
Max Coopey admitted drug-driving but was not prosecuted for careless or dangerous driving
Drug-driving laws and use of ‘drugalysers’: How police measure legal and illegal drugs to determine if you’re ‘high’ at wheel
In 2015 new regulations aimed at stopping people driving while on drugs came into force in England and Wales.
Drivers now face prosecution if they exceed limits set for the presence of eight illegal drugs, including cannabis and cocaine, and eight prescription drugs.
Police are able to use ‘drugalyser’ devices at the roadside.
Drug-drive limits for legal drugs like morphine and diazepam are set at levels likely to cause impairment, and users must be prepared to justify the drug’s presence in their system.
But limits for illegal drugs are set at ‘zero-tolerance’ levels, mainly about as low as police equipment can detect.
But just because there are trace amounts of a drug in your system – possibly from using drugs many hours before driving – doesn’t mean the drug is impairing your driving.
Nonetheless, you will be prosecuted for ‘driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a controlled drug above the specified limit’ as part of efforts to clamp down on drug-driving.
He added that he had not taken codeine on the night of the crash and had not smoked any cannabis since 6pm, when he smoked a ‘cannabis vape’ with his friends.
Mr Coopey, who lives at his parents’ £1million home on The Burlings in Ascot, Berks., was giving evidence at the double inquest in Reading.
His father Russel, who is a police sergeant in the Metropolitan Police and who had rushed to the scene on the night of the collision when his son called him and said he had hit people with the car, gave evidence to the inquest in a written statement.
He had allowed his son to borrow his car because his own, a BMW, was in for repairs after being involved in a collision, the coroner heard.
Sgt. Coopey said: ‘We agreed he had to be back by midnight and was to drive carefully. He acknowledged and agreed to this.’
Mr Hinchliffe said to Mr Coopey: ‘You asked to borrow your father’s car. Your father gave you strict instructions as to when you were to return it.’
Mr Coopey replied: ‘Which I don’t normally obey.’
The lawyer told the inquest that Mr Coopey’s father was a serving police officer and got the witness to confirm that his father held the rank of sergeant, which Mr Coopey said was a ‘very low rank’ but maintained it was irrelevant.
Mr Hinchliffe then quizzed Mr Coopey on why he had not slowed down as he approached a dip in the road, a blind spot, and why he did not have his full beam headlights on.
Towards the end of the questioning, Mr Coopey said: ‘I may have slowed down slightly. Even if I didn’t, even if I hadn’t it would have been perfectly fine because that is how they teach you to drive.
‘You don’t slow down for the possibility of someone being on the other side of a blind corner. I don’t expect there to be someone in the road, you drive in the ordinary fashion, as any driver would.
‘If anyone else here was in the same situation, the same thing would have happened. You can keep asking me questions to try to make it look like…’
Timeline: Max Coopey’s offences – starting from the age of 12 years old
2013 to 2018: Police officers’ son Max Coopey, between the ages of 12 and 17, racks up five convictions for seven offences, predominantly for drugs.
June 2018: One of those offences took place just eight weeks before the killings, when police pulled the 17-year-old over for bad driving and found he smelled of cannabis. He had 5.7mcgs in his bloodstream.
August 2, 2018: While awaiting a court appearance over that matter, Max Coopey smokes cannabis with friends, then gets behind the wheel of his parents’ powerful Audi A5 to take his friends for a drive.
11.27pm: Police receive first report of the crash in which the car driven by Coopey hit and killed John Shackley, 61, and Jason Imi, 48, as they cross the road after a meal out with colleagues.
11.34pm: Coopey is arrested at the scene, on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
August 3, 00.02am: He passes a breathalyser but fails a drug wipe for cannabis.
TIME UNKNOWN: Coopey’s blood is taken by police, find it contains 3.3mcg of cannabis per 100ml, over the drug-drive limit.
November 2018: Coopey is convicted in court of the June drug-driving offence.
January 30, 2019: Max Coopey pleads guilty to drug-driving over the August crash which killed Mr Imi and Mr Shackley. He retains his anonymity despite the CPS joining the press in requesting he be identified. He walks free from court with 100 hours of community service.
May 25, 2019: Max Coopey turns 18 and is named by this newspaper.
July 8, 2019: An inquest into the deaths will open at Reading Coroner’s Court.
The coroner interjected to remind Mr Coopey that Mr Hinchliffe was asking questions which he was entitled to ask as part of the inquest, which was trying to determine who the person who died was, when and where they died and how they died.
Sol Russell-Coyle, who was a passenger in the car, said in his evidence to the coroner: ‘I am traumatised. It’s quite hard for an 18-year-old boy to go through this.’
Edwin Buckett, a lawyer representing Mr Shackley’s family, asked Mr Coopey: ‘Have you smoked cannabis before driving on previous occasions?’
Mr Coopey answered: ‘That is completely irrelevant?’
Mr Buckett pressed on: ‘Did you appreciate your ability to drive would be impaired in some way?’
Mr Coopey said he did not want to answer that question if he did not have to and said he could not remember the night very well because it was one year ago.
Jeffrey Wakeling, who was Mr Imi and was Mr Shackley’s manager at Computacentre, told the inquest he and the two men were part of a group of nine men staying at the Royal Berkshire Hotel in Sunningdale, Berks., for an annual work get together.
They had all been eating at a nearby Italian restaurant, Pazzia, on London Road. The men had taken wine with their meal and Mr Wakeling said they had all been in good spirits.
A toxicology report conducted on both of the deceased men showed they had been over the drink-drive limit for alcohol.
Zen Ogilvy, pictured, was in the car when Coopey hit and killed the two men last August
‘Have some respect’: how drug-driver allegedly attacked press photographer while asking for respect
This morning on his way into the inquest Coopey allegedly assaulted a press photographer.
Thames Valley Police have launched an investigation after Max Coopey, 18, is said to have grabbed the photographer’s camera and ripped it from his neck, and to have spat at the man, outside Reading Coroner’s Court.
The 18-year-old also gave the photographer a middle finger sign as he launched his angry 20-second attack in front of shoppers in Reading town centre this morning, which was captured by television cameras.
The photographer said: ‘Coopey was arriving to give evidence at the inquest into the deaths of the two men who died when he knocked them down after smoking cannabis.
‘I was expecting him to try to avoid me but I did not expect to be assaulted and to have my camera wrenched from me,’ he said.
‘He added insult to injury by giving me the middle finger salute which I captured as an image. For such a young man he is really stupid. As the son of two police officers you would think he would know better,’ he added.
‘He said to me “do you know why I am here? Have some respect” which was a bit rich given his performance later in the inquest hearing.’
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said later: ‘We received a report of an assault that happened between 9.30am and 10am this morning outside the Town Hall on Blagrave treet.
‘A man in his 30s was assaulted by another man. The victim did not sustain any injuries. An investigation has been launched into the circumstances.’
Mr Wakeling said that as he had walked back to the hotel just before midnight, the nine had split into groups, with Mr Imi and Mr Shackley bringing up the rear.
He said they had heard a sound like a car hitting a deer on the 50mph stretch of road behind them, which is completely straight for 800 metres, the inquest heard.
He said that somebody in the group said: ‘Christ, that sounds bad. I hope that wasn’t one of our guys.’
Mr Coopey’s father had told the inquest in his statement that he had rushed to the scene in a taxi after his son had called him, sounding panicky and frightened, and said: ‘Dad, I have had an accident, somebody ran in front of me and I have hit them. I think they may be dead.’
After arriving at the scene, Sgt. Coopey had introduced himself to the other police officers as Max’s father, at which point in the evidence coroner Ms McCormick said she would not read the rest of his statement.
When barrister Mr Hinchliffe had asked Mr Coopey whether his father was a serving police officer, the coroner had said she did not think the question was relevant but Mr Hinchliffe had ignored that objection and asked the question again until Mr Coopey answered it.
Mr Buckett suggested to Mr Coopey that if he had dropped his friend Zen off in Hampton, where he lived, then he would not have arrived home at midnight as his father had asked him to.
The lawyer said: ‘Your dad said that you had to be back by midnight.’
Mr Coopey replied: ‘But, as you can imagine, I wouldn’t always be back at midnight. You’re trying to suggest I was hurrying, but that is completely wrong. That is completely absurd.’
Mr Buckett said: ‘You could not be back in time for midnight but you did not want to be much over midnight.’
The inquest heard that the victims were Mr Shackley, of Deanshanger, Milton Keynes, Bucks., who was a sales manager and Mr Imi, who was a solution specialist, at the same European IT services company, Computacenter.
Mr Shackley’s daughter, Danielle Shackley, aged 31 years and of Milton Keynes, attended the inquest with her partner, Jesse Potton.
Sarah Imi, Mr Imi’s widow, who had been with Jason for almost 22 years, also attended.
They were a couple of weeks away from their 18th wedding anniversary when he died and they had three children.
The hearing continues.
The widows of the two men who died gave written statements to January’s trial.
Sarah Imi was Jason Imi’s partner of almost 22 years and they were days away from their 18th wedding anniversary. The couple had three children together.
Mrs Imi said: ‘We had so many plans for our future together and I feel that has been stolen from us.
‘Why was he driving a car that powerful? It seems like no lessons have been learned.’
Mrs Imi’s lawyer Soyab Patel told MailOnline the Imi family were outraged by the sentence. He added: ‘If you ask any member of the public, ‘a guy is driving down the road, he’s killed two people, and he was over the limit on cannabis, and he got 100 hours of community service’, you just get the answer ‘what? are you kidding me?’.’
In court in January, a statement from Mrs Shackley read: ‘I previously worked in a school setting. I know that some kids need extra discipline.
‘To assist them to choose the right life path is something that parents need to do to get them to avoid getting into dangerous situations.
‘He was able to drive a powerful car and perhaps the family should have been more alert to the warning signs.
‘My husband was killed after a meal out with colleagues. He said he would be back around 11 o’clock.
‘He was killed instantly only 5-10 minutes walk from the restaurant.
‘Our only hope is that they felt no pain or fear – that is our only consolation’.
Sentencing Coopey to community service in February, presiding magistrate Penny Wood she and her colleagues’ ‘initial thinking’ was to jail Coopey, saying: ‘It can’t be right to drive your car and knock down two people, innocent pedestrians and kill them.’
However, she added: ‘There are no charges in relation to the standard of your driving on that day. But we can begin by saying so it can be heard by anyone in the court, that we take this extremely seriously.’
The magistrates put Coopey on a new youth rehabilitation order including supervision for 24 months, a 20-day ‘thinking skills programme’, a safe driving course, 100 hours of unpaid work, and a six month curfew.
The teenager was also disqualified from driving for 24 months and charged £105 in costs, which his parents said they would pay.
The magistrates suggested he could pay them back by doing odd jobs about the house.
