Former Sikeston DPS captain sentenced to 14 years for woman's death

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A former Sikeston, Missouri, police captain was sentenced Tuesday, Aug. 1, to 14 years in prison for his role in the death of a Sikeston woman who was planning a honeymoon and pursuing a career in criminal justice.

Butler County Circuit Judge Michael Pritchett sentenced Andrew Cooper to 10 years of prison for the charge of involuntary manslaughter and four years for armed criminal action, with the sentences to run consecutively.

Cooper apologized to Abigail Cohen’s family in court for “my part” in Cohen’s death, saying he thinks of Cohen and Cohen’s family every hour of the day.

He said, if he could, he would change places with her, but Cooper did not express remorse specifically for driving 90 miles per hour and running a stop sign in his Dodge Challenger Hellcat, evidence pulled from the car’s data recovery system. He stated in court, looking in the family’s direction, that had he not left his house that night, Abigail Cohen would still be alive. He then repeated he was sorry and he would trade places with the victim.

In statements after the wreck, Cooper blamed Cohen’s husband for pulling out in front of him while turning at the three-way stop. Throughout the June trial, Cooper’s attorney Travis Noble placed blame on Cohen for not stopping before turning, claiming Cooper accelerated in a maneuver to avoid a collision.

Testimony about the Cohens’ vehicle noted Christopher Cohen slowed at least to 3 miles per hour at the three-way stop. Even though Cohen testified he was looking right as he was beginning to turn left, Cohen would have had no expectation a car would barrel through the intersection and not heed the stop sign.

Cohen’s widower also said he wishes he could trade places with his wife. Chris Cohen told the court his wife was “perfect” and described watching first responders pull her lifeless body from the car. He said he’s had recurring suicidal thoughts since her death Feb. 29, 2020. They’d been married less than a year, and were planning a honeymoon to Disney World because they could not afford a honeymoon directly after their wedding. He said Abigail’s death follows him wherever he goes.

Prosecutor Stephanie Watson tried to convince the judge Cooper should be sentenced harshly because he had a similar crash as an officer in 2008.

Cooper, while in a police car but without sirens or emergency lights engaged, had a collision in 2008 in which it was noted Cooper was traveling 66 to 74 miles per hour at the time of impact. The driver of the other vehicle in 2008, the late George Simmons, was attempting to make a U-turn on a road with a speed limit of 55. The ruling at the time was that Simmons was at fault for the wreck for pulling into Cooper’s path.

Testimony presented Tuesday said Cooper was not responding to an emergency.

Watson contacted the major accident investigator with the state Highway Patrol who investigated the wreck in 2008 to take another look at the original data. Using technology and databases not available in 2008, trooper Timothy Pulley recently determined Cooper was driving 95 miles per hour, 40 miles per hour above the speed limit, five seconds before impact of that crash.

Simmons’ wife told the court her husband suffered seven cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a “brain bleed” as a result of the crash. She said he never returned to his previously active lifestyle and his mental condition gradually worsened as a result of his brain injury. She testified her husband died as result of the condition caused by the wreck.

Watson argued in court that had the crash not been “swept under the rug” in 2008, Abigail Cohen might still be alive. Judge Pritchett told the court before sentencing he was not taking the prior crash into consideration in his sentencing, saying he was hearing different accounts as to who was at fault in that wreck.

Cohen’s parents, Stacy Linhart and Jama Furgerson, both said they were satisfied with the sentencing. Both said they believed the sentence should have been harsher, but were bracing for less time.

“I tell you, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” Linhart said. “I thought he was going to say ‘five’. I thought they’d give him three years on the first and two or three in the second, and he’d be out in a couple of years.”

Linhart wept from the gallery as his fiancee, Robin Pastori, read his impact statement from the witness box.

The statement noted that because Cooper was not convicted for DWI charges, that meant he made the decision to punch the accelerator and run the stop sign on a residential street with a clear mind. Pastori said in reading Linhart’s statement that police officers should be held to higher standards.

Prosecutor Watson echoed those sentiments, adding that Cooper was not a wild teenager but an officer of the law. He drove without regard to others’ lives, she said.

Furgerson, highly outspoken in the three and a half years since her daughter’s death, told the court that since the incident she has lost trust in law enforcement. Her daughter was preparing to graduate with a degree in criminal justice. Abigail’s death has had devastating effects on her siblings.

Furgerson said one day she might be able to accept Cooper’s apology in court, but not yet. After three-plus years of Cooper fighting accountability, she said she needed some time to think about his words. Linhart said he believed Cooper’s apology was performative, given his legal actions to dodge accountability.

“I think it more or less, things I’ve heard about him, from people in Sikeston, it’s just a pattern for him,” Linhart said. “Just to do stuff like that. Being under the badge, feeling like he could just get by with anything.”

While Watson was making an argument that Cooper, because he acted recklessly while he held a position of power in law enforcement, was more dangerous than a typical defendant, Cooper’s character witnesses described him as a gentle family man, a brave public safety officer who was known to pull people and pets from burning buildings and a mentor to younger officers throughout the area.

Cooper was described as a doting father and the man in the family who took care of ailing family members, took nephews and nieces under his wing and could be counted on to help wherever and whenever it was needed.

One witness, Shannon Stanley, involved in a religious recovery program after being arrested on several drug charges in 2016, said Cooper had been attending meetings, showing humility. The witness said the recovery program was not just for drug and alcohol addicts, but for anyone dealing with “hurts, habits and hangups.”

Cooper’s attorney argued for a sentence of three years, the minimum penalty that could be received under the ACA charge. He said his client made a mistake one night and that there is nothing that would be accomplished with more than three years in prison.

Watson asked for a sentence of 25 years.

Cooper admitted in his statements that in addition to hurting the Cohen family, he hurt his family as well. Cooper’s friend and son — both passengers in his Hellcat — were also injured in the wreck. Plus, Cooper said, his family has been through the emotional distress of him facing prison time.

During his comments before sentencing, Pritchett mentioned that he noted he believed Cooper was 100% responsible for the wreck, even though Cooper told officers it was Christopher Cohen who caused the wreck by pulling into his lane, a thread that continued throughout the trial.