Halifax cops issue warning about man convicted of impaired driving causing death

HALIFAX – Halifax police are warning all Nova Scotia residents about a man who is deemed a high risk to re-offend after serving a seven-year sentence for impaired driving causing death.

The police force issued a statement under its high risk offender protocol saying 55-year-old Michael Gerard Cooper is expected to move to the Halifax area after his release today from New Brunswick’s Dorchester Penitentiary.

Cooper’s case attracted national attention after the parents of a teenager who died in a 2007 collision with Cooper’s vehicle asked Nova Scotia authorities to post pictures of Cooper in liquor stores and bars.

After Cooper’s conviction, the Parole Board of Canada said he told them he would not stop drinking and driving, which prompted the board to deny him an early release.

As part of his release, Cooper must meet several conditions, including a lifetime driving ban and a two-year order to abstain from buying and drinking alcohol.

Cooper was convicted in 2007 of two counts of impaired driving causing death following a crash in Cape Breton that killed Angela Smits, 19, and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Michael MacLean.