Chesterfield driver with brain disorder hospitalised cyclist in “eyes closed” crash

Richard Cooper, who had functional neurological dystonia, drove “straight through” the cyclist on Derby Road, Tapton, in his van while talking on the phone, hands-free.

Video footage played to Derby Crown Court showed him with partially and fully closed eyes while stuttering – all symptoms of the condition – prior to the accident.

He hit the cyclist – who was hospitalised for 15 days – from behind. The victim suffered a fractured spine, fractured hip, punctured lung, rib fractures and a broken nose.

However the court heard Cooper’s speed in his work van on the 50mph was not excessive or a relevant factor during the crash on March 28, 2022. And while he was speaking on the phone it was entirely legal as he was using hands-free technology.

In a victim statement read out to the court the injured cyclist said: “I was so scared I had brain damage, I feared the worst.” A doctor’s report stated Cooper, 51, would have been aware of his condition, but the court heard patients “frequently find ways of coping”.

A prosecutor told the court: “Mr Cooper may not have recognised the extent of his condition. It’s clear throughout the duration of the driving that he is not seeing clearly.”

Cooper's defence barrister said the defendant was diagnosed with the condition at the end of 2021. Although he had stopped driving as the symptoms worsened, he was back behind the wheel regularly in 2022.

The barrister said: “As his condition deteriorated he has not appreciated the gradual deterioration which plainly had been reached by the time with which we are concerned.”

The court heard Cooper was now cared for at home by his wife as his vision and shaking had deteriorated further and he suffered incontinence and bleeding throughout the night.

Cooper, of Seagrave Drive, Hasland, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Judge Adrian Reynolds told Cooper he had led an “entirely blameless life” prior to the crash in 2022, although he noted that his victim had been “through hell”.

“Ironically”, he added, detailed footage was available because the defendant had interior and exterior dash cams fitted to his Ford Transit following another road crash in 2020 “for which he was blameless”.

Referring to the video footage, the judge said: “It’s clear his eyes are opening and closing for periods of time quite different from blinking. The extent to which his eyes were opening and closing has undoubtedly led to a situation where, when he got onto the A61, he just drove straight into (the victim).

"I accept the defendant at least believed he was Ok to drive but he at least should have realised he was not fit to drive.”

Judge Reynolds, noting that Cooper’s health would make custody “quite awful", said: “He would quite simply be a burden on the prison system. In the circumstances I do not believe there’s any real public interest in sending him to prison today.”

Cooper was handed two years jail suspended for two years, a lifetime driving ban and 35 rehabilitation activity days.