There are still unanswered questions about what exactly happened on that Roseland Road driveway in December, only minutes shy of midnight and just over 24 hours before the clock struck Christmas, despite the exhaustive, four-month investigation conducted by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
There’s also a pending civil lawsuit that might eventually provide additional answers – but that, for now, prevents the driver, a former law-enforcement officer, from speaking publicly about the tragic death of his girlfriend, a popular assistant principal at Glendale Elementary School.
It’s unlikely, though, that we’ll ever know how Janai Cooper ended up in the path of Brian Coffey’s pickup truck as he started down the long driveway in front of their home on that ill-fated night.
And unless some new information turns up, there will be no criminal charges brought against Coffey in connection with Cooper’s Christmas Eve death.
According to Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor’s April 20 letter to Sheriff’s Det. John Finnegan, who led the investigation, there was “insufficient” probable cause to seek an arrest warrant charging Coffey with DUI manslaughter.
Taylor wrote that there was no evidence to show Coffey’s blood-alcohol content was above the legal limit or that, at the time of the incident, he was “under the influence to the extent his normal faculties were impaired.”
In his 10-page warrant affidavit, in fact, Finnegan wrote that Coffey admitted the couple had gone out for dinner and drinks earlier in the evening – he reportedly consumed six or seven Michelob Ultras and 20 chicken wings in four hours at two nearby restaurants – and that they had just returned home when Cooper, still seated in their parked SUV, realized she was low on cigarettes and asked him to “run to the store fast” to buy her a pack.
However, when paramedics took a blood sample three hours later, after Coffey told deputies he drank “half of the bottle” of a half-gallon bottle of Crown Royal whiskey while a deputy and paramedics performed CPR on Cooper, his blood-alcohol level was only .072.
The legal limit is .08.
“Brian has always stated that what happened on Christmas Eve was an accident; as such, he has been fully cooperating with law enforcement since that night,” said Nicole Menz, Coffey’s Vero Beach attorney. “We are happy that the thorough investigation done by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office has supported Brian’s claims and are thankful that the State Attorney’s Office will not be filing any criminal charges.
“Brian and Janai were planning to spend the rest of their lives together,” she added. “That plan was cut short by this terrible tragedy. While he is relieved that he will not face criminal charges as a result of her death, he remains heartbroken at the loss of his life partner.”
Coffey, 44, spent three years as an officer with the Fellsmere Police Department and just under one year as an Indian River County Sheriff’s deputy before starting his own construction and roofing company in 1996.
Menz said Coffey and Cooper had been a couple for two and a half years, had lived together for about 18 months and were planning to get married this year. She said he continues to be haunted by the incident – so much so that he no longer drives the Chevy Silverado that killed Cooper.
Not only was Coffey grieving, but he also was confronted with the possibility he would face criminal charges.
“The loss of Janai, in and of itself, is unbearable, but wondering whether you are going to be charged criminally with causing her death is almost too much to comprehend,” Menz said. “Every day since Dec. 24, Brian has thought about the accident and has feared being arrested.
“As a former law-enforcement officer, he knows that an arrest can come at any time in any place,” she added. “Brian also knows that an arrest for crimes of this nature would, in all likelihood, mean several years in prison. Time spent in prison would take him away from his two young boys, who are the only things that matter to him now that Janai is gone.”
Cooper, who was 39, also had two boys. In February, her ex-husband, acting on behalf of her estate and their sons, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Coffey in Indian River County Circuit Court.
Menz said Coffey, who is being represented in the civil matter by Boca Raton attorney John Wilke, was advised to not speak publicly about the incident or the lawsuit.
“I think he would talk about it,” she said, “but he can’t.”
Nor can he, or anyone else, explain how he ran over the woman he loved – a Vero Beach High School graduate who studied education at Florida Atlantic University, earned a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University and was pursuing her doctorate.
There were no witnesses.
Jillian Miller, identified as Cooper’s sister in the report, told Finnegan the couple had a “great relationship” and enjoyed drinking socially. She said she “couldn’t imagine this being anything more than an accident.”
The owner of The Old Fish House in Grant and a server at Outriggers Restaurant in Micco confirmed to Finnegan that Cooper, too, was drinking that night and the couple seemed to be having fun. Finnegan’s investigation found that she had consumed a total of seven bottles of Angry Orchard Hard Cider.
The amount of alcohol Cooper drank could bolster Coffey’s claim that she was “fumbling with things” in her SUV as he ran into the house, grabbed his keys and got into his truck. He told Finnegan the truck’s windshield was covered with condensation, so he stuck his head out the side window and “did not see anything” in his way.
As Coffey started down the driveway, however, he heard two “thuds.” He said he thought he ran over some trash or debris, so he stopped. When he got out of the truck to see what he had hit, he saw Cooper on the ground.
According to Finnegan’s report, Coffey said he immediately called 911 – at approximately 11:40 p.m. – and began to administer CPR until Sheriff’s Cpl. Richard Daniels arrived at the scene. When the deputy took over CPR, Coffey began “freaking out” and “panicking” and drinking from a bottle of Crown Royal.
Daniels said Coffey “spontaneously uttered” that he did not see Cooper and accidentally ran her over. He also said Coffey “appeared intoxicated” and had to be told several times to put down the bottle before he finally complied.
Cooper was transported to the Sebastian River Medical Center, where minutes later she was pronounced dead – at 12:33 a.m. Christmas Eve. When told she had died, Coffey “became very emotional and began crying hysterically,” the report said.
Finnegan, who arrived at the scene at 1:15 a.m., said he told Coffey he would be the detective handling the case and then read him his Miranda rights. Coffey waived them and agreed to answer questions about the incident.
In conducting his investigation, Finnegan also interviewed friends and relatives of both Cooper and Coffey, including Coffey’s ex-wife, Patricia. She said Coffey called her after the accident and was so distraught that he “couldn’t live with himself” and “was going to commit suicide.”
That reaction, given the circumstances, is understandable. Other parts of this story, however, don’t make sense. Or at least raise questions.
Having just run over the woman he loved – with Cooper lying unresponsive on the ground as a deputy performed CPR – how could Coffey walk away, grab a bottle of booze and start drinking, instead of staying right there in case the deputy needed assistance?
If Coffey couldn’t see through his truck’s windshield because of late-night condensation, why didn’t he turn on his wipers and defroster and wait a few seconds until his view wasn’t obstructed? What was the rush?
Then there’s this: Is it really possible Coffey drank “half of the bottle” of a half-gallon bottle of Crown Royal without passing out and, just three hours later, produced a blood-alcohol level below the legal limit?
In his report, Finnegan said a supervisor in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Toxicology Division told him the amount Coffey claimed to have consumed was the equivalent of roughly 20 shots, or enough in one sitting to render most people unconscious.
So if he didn’t drink all that whiskey, why did Coffey say that he did?
You can expect those questions and others to be answered in depositions taken for the civil lawsuit. Even then, however, we might never know how Cooper ended up in front of that truck.
Whatever the reason, there seems little doubt now her death was the result of an accident – a terrible, tragic twist of fate that Coffey must live with.
