A Durango woman was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for rear-ending a motorcycle, killing its rider.
Michelle Northcutt, 51, said she fell asleep at the wheel while driving south on Colorado Highway 3 to an appointment on June 6. Her SUV slammed into the back of Tim Cooper’s motorcycle, which was stopped at the intersection with South Camino del Rio, near Walmart. The motorcycle hit the F-150 pickup stopped in front of it and burst into flames.
Cooper, 52, was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center, where he died.
Northcutt pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death.
La Plata County Judge Martha Minot did not sentence probation, deciding that it would be purposeless for Northcutt, who has no criminal record. But she imposed jail time to “send a message to the community” about the severity of careless driving.
“There is no justice here. Why bad things happen to good people is not a question that will be answered here,” Minot said. “No one should be driving when they’re so tired that they could fall asleep.”
In addition to the jail sentence, Minot ordered Northcutt to surrender her driver’s license for three years, pay $1,000, take a defensive-driving course and serve 300 hours of community service.
Minot also ordered Northcutt to undergo a substance-abuse evaluation at Coopers’ family’s request, although the judge said that from examining the evidence, she did not think substance abuse is a problem for the defendant.
“On June 6, I said goodbye to him like any morning. How did I know that would be the last?” Paula Cooper, Tim Cooper’s wife of 33 years, told the court. “He was the only man I ever loved, and his son lost his father, friend and hero. Our lives are shattered, destroyed.”
“It is what it is at this point,” said Wyatt Cooper, Tim Cooper’s son. “I’m not looking for revenge. I would like justice, that’s it. I don’t want my dad to die and nothing change. The jail doesn’t matter to me so much as changing the roadside tests or having better police cameras.”
After the crash, Northcutt was subjected to sobriety tests at the scene, which she passed. Durango Police Cpl. Bryan Heaton pushed a button to activate his dashboard camera to record the test, but later found the camera didn’t record.
Northcutt admitted to officers that she smoked marijuana around 5 a.m. that day to get back to sleep and took an anti-depressant the night before. The crash occurred at 10:26 a.m.
A witness told police that Northcutt was weaving before the crash and documented it with a Snapchat video.
Northcutt, a wife and mother of two daughters, wept throughout the sentencing and apologized to Cooper’s family and friends.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t do anything to make it better,” she said. “I wasn’t on drugs. I wasn’t drunk. I’m willing to take the consequences. I know I deserve it. Learning that he (Cooper) was spiritual gave me some peace. I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”
jpace@durangoherald.com
