Cooper's lawyer said she would carry the shame of what she did for the rest of her life. Picture: Ben Lack
Teenager on phone before crashing car into a brick wall
10th Aug 2018 2:59 AM | Updated: 11th Aug 2018 3:35 AM
A LEARNER driver had a devastating head-on car crash while making a two-minute video phone call.
Danielle Cooper, 19, was so engrossed in her chat she hit a wall without braking or steering to avoid it, The Sun reports.
Her two passengers, who were not wearing seatbelts, suffered catastrophic injuries. The hairdresser had been glued to her mobile as she drove without her L plates.
Learner driver Danielle Cooper, 19, was sentenced to 18 months behind bars after causing the horror crash. Picture: Ben Lack
Cooper stalled at a petrol station and forgot to put on her lights while repeatedly calling and texting a man.
Her Facebook Messenger call to him lasted two minutes and 11 seconds before it was cut off when she smashed her Ford Ka into a wall on a bend.
Her half-sister, who was sitting in the back, suffered brain bleeding and fractures to her neck, spine, ribs and jaw.
She was in intensive care for 19 days and had to be resuscitated and have a tracheotomy.
A male passenger suffered multiple fractures.
Neither remember the crash that happened in North Lincolnshire in the UK in August last year, Grimsby crown court heard.
Judge David Tremberg said Cooper had been "continuously distracted" by her phone.
He added: "If there was a driver who ought to have been paying full attention to their driving, it was you.
"It's a matter of pure chance you didn't kill somebody."
David Godfrey, mitigating, said the 19-year-old would carry the shame for the rest of her life.
Cooper, of Epworth, North Lincolnshire, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 18 months.
She was banned from driving for three years and nine months.
This story was originally published on The Sun and is republished with permission.
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