Former Sikeston DPS captain found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for fatal crash

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Christopher Cohen and his wife, Abigail, were planning their honeymoon at Disney World. Instead, Christopher had to attend Abby’s funeral.

A jury ruled Friday, June 9, that former Sikeston (Missouri) Department of Public Safety Capt. Andrew Cooper Sr. was responsible for her death. The jury found Cooper guilty of involuntary manslaughter as well as armed criminal action. The jury found Cooper not guilty of four DWI charges, one each for the three injured in the collision and one for the woman’s death.

Sentencing is set for Tuesday, Aug. 1. Cooper’s attorney said he will file an appeal for a new trial.

Abigail Cohen’s mother, Jama Furgerson, said after the trial that she had “a lot of mixed feelings”, adding she hoped for convictions for DWI as well. She also expressed disappointment in how the state Highway Patrol handled the investigation and allowed openings for the defense. When asked about her daughter, she said, “She was a lovely and bubbly person, always with a smile on her face.”

Furgerson has said previously that her daughter was studying criminal justice in college.

The state presented evidence from Cooper’s Dodge Challenger Hellcat that showed Cooper rounded the curve on Salcedo Drive on the edge of Sikeston, punched the accelerator, fish-tailed, punched the accelerator again, reached a speed of 90 miles per hour one second before impact and blew through the stop sign at the intersection at Columbine Street.

The jury’s ruling indicates the prosecution proved Cooper acted in a reckless manner, and he operated a “dangerous instrument”, his Dodge Challenger, a requirement to meet the armed criminal action charge. The armed criminal action charge is rare in such a case, according to attorneys discussing the issue during breaks at the trial. It is usually paired with charges involving weapons.

Appointed prosecutor Stephanie Watson, who specializes in DWI cases, told the jury during closing arguments that Cooper “endangered the lives of those he was sworn to protect and serve. With a guilty verdict, you’ll show that no one is above the law.”

Event recording data obtained from Cooper’s vehicle showed he was driving double the speed limit entering a residential area with which Cooper was familiar. The collision occurred Feb. 29, 2020, at the three-way stop. Cooper’s defense said several times during the trial that Cohen made no attempt to avoid the collision, but Cohen would have expected the vehicle with headlights in his periphery to stop at the stop sign.

In closing arguments, defense attorney Travis Noble tried to convince the jury the officers who were involved in the investigation all skewed evidence to fit a narrative established by arresting officer James Cooksey with the Highway Patrol. Cooksey was not called as a witness. Noble claimed that in previous depositions Cooksey admitted to not having probable cause to make an arrest for DWI the night of the wreck.

The prosecution avoided that potential line of questioning by not calling Cooksey. This appeared to have upset Cooper’s defense attorney, who had been attacking Cooksey’s involvement in the investigation throughout the trial. Following the jury’s dismissal, he told the judge this was the first trial in his career where an arresting officer was not called as a witness.

For the DWI, the prosecution leaned largely on evidence of a blood test that was taken more than three hours after the wreck that showed Cooper to have a blood alcohol content reading of 0.049%. Based on studies of alcohol excretion and formulas derived from them, 97% of the population would have had a blood alcohol content range from .084% to .136% at the time of the crash that killed Abigail Cohen. A person in Missouri is considered legally intoxicated and not fit to drive at 0.08%.

Cooper, according to trooper Justin Johnson, tried to circumvent a breath test three times by not sealing his lips around the device and by not giving full breaths. Cooper refused to take a blood test at the hospital, meaning a judge’s search warrant was needed to draw his blood. Cooper was advised of Missouri law stating that refusing a blood test would result in the suspension of driving privileges for a year. Watson pointed out in closing that Cooper would have needed to drive for his job, and that if he only had two beers as he had told officers at the scene, he would not have had anything to fear by agreeing to a blood test. She said Cooper, who was severely injured in the crash, would have known he was not properly breathing into the device. She also pointed out that the BAC proved that testimony regarding Cooper consuming only two beers was false.

Noble poked holes at procedural problems throughout the trial, including the issue that the criminalist with the crime lab did not factor in how much witnesses said Cooper had to drink before he drove the Hellcat, and the timing of that consumption. Noble said such information regarding the body’s absorption and elimination of alcohol could have skewed the BAC figures.

Noble also presented a narrative that the collision occurred after the stop sign, and blamed the wreck on Christopher Cohen, who Noble said rolled through a stop without looking and pulled into Cooper’s oncoming lane. Christopher Cohen, severely injured by the wreck and who went into shock, declined to comment after the trial Friday, but said he may share his feelings after the sentencing.

Noble presented a theory that Cooper accelerated to try to avoid contact, based on high-speed pursuit training he received as an officer. He also added that the reason Abigail Cohen was killed was because she was not wearing a seat belt.

Watson pointed out that no evidence was presented to show Cohen was at fault. Noble had argued in the trial that the beginning of a fluid trail that began after the stop sign could have been caused by fire hoses and water from fire trucks at the scene, and that tire marks could have already been at the scene. This was how Noble tried to convince the jury his client hadn’t run a stop sign and the collision actually occurred farther up the street.

In closing arguments, Watson played a fire truck video showing that the hoses were not dragged through the fluid trail and that no water had been sprayed there.

Involuntary manslaughter is a Class C felony, which has a sentencing range of three to 10 years. Armed criminal action comes with a minimum sentence of three years and up to 15 years.