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Driver charged in violent crash that killed two people

Family, friends of victims gather at crash scene to grieve for those who lost their lives.

Jerry Lopez (left), the best friend of Nancy Cooper, the mother of Corey Cooper, along with Lopez's daughter Sarah Torres (right) sing during a vigil for Christina Jackson and Corey Cooper at the crash site at Wayne and Wilmington avenues Sunday.

Teesha McClam/Staff photo Jerry Lopez (left), the best friend of Nancy Cooper, the mother of Corey Cooper, along with Lopez's daughter Sarah Torres (right) sing during a vigil for Christina Jackson and Corey Cooper at the crash site at Wayne and Wilmington avenues Sunday.

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By Ken McCall and Doug Page
Staff Writers Updated 4:08 PM Monday, November 21, 2011

DAYTON — Prosecutors have charged a Florida driver with two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide for a violent car crash that killed two young people early Saturday morning.

Robert Finkley, 29, of Florida remains in the Montgomery County Jail after plowing into the driver’s side of 1996 Dodge Neon stopped at the light at the intersection of Wilmington Pike and Wayne Avenue just after 1:40 a.m. Killed were the Neon’s driver, 20-year-old Christina Jackson, and passenger18-year-old Corey Cooper.

According to witnesses, Finkley was driving his rental car on Wayne at a high rate of speed when he struck, Jackson’s vehicle. The force of the collision propelled the Neon through the air and into a retaining wall in front of One Wilmington Place.

“If he had not hit the vehicle, he would have run head on into the brick wall,” Dayton police Sgt. Mark Ponichtera said Monday.

“We do have speed, among other things, contributing to the collision,” Ponichtera said. “We don’t have an exact speed yet, but do know he (Finkley) was traveling over 70 mph at least.”

Police suspect Finkley had been drinking prior to the collision and are awaiting for the results of lab tests.

Jackson, a Carroll High School graduate, was giving her friend, Cooper, a senior at Carroll, a ride home from the Off the Hookah Lounge in Kettering. She was stopped at the light and making a call to tell her brother, who made it through the light in front of her, that she would be home in a minute.

“Police officers said the kids didn’t have a chance, and they never saw it coming,” said Corey’s mother, Nancy Cooper, after a prayer vigil Sunday evening at the busy intersection.

“She was driving and bringing him home,” Cooper said. “He’d been wanting to talk to her, and they hadn’t seen each other in awhile. They were very close friends.

“She called Chad and the call came while she was sitting at the light. And she said “I’m going home after I drop Corey off.’ And then minutes later ...”

Police on Saturday said Finkley is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.

A search of Florida records found a Robert Anthony Finkley, 29, of Gainesville, Fla., who had only two traffic citations, apparently for running a red light in October 2007.

Sgt. Ponichtera said Finkley was in town, working as a consultant for Premiere Health Partners.

“They said he wants to talk to me and (her husband) Brian,” Nancy Cooper said. “I don’t know why. I don’t want to do that. Not right now.

“I can’t say I hate him. I have to say that Corey and Christina wouldn’t want anybody to feel that way.

“They didn’t know an enemy. Everybody loved them. They could light up a room the minute they walked in. And they would not want us to be hating.”

Standing in the cold rain, Nancy Cooper and Brian Cooper maintained a quiet calm as they grappled with the details.

Visitation for both families will be Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home on Needmore Road. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Immaculate Conception Church.

“They died together,” Brian Cooper said. “We’re doing everything together.”

Nancy knows the worst is yet to come.

“To be quite honest, I haven’t had to identify him yet,” she said quietly. “It’s not really going to hit me hard until ... Both moms haven’t been able to identify their kids yet, and that’s killing us.”

According to jail records, Finkley faces possible vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges when he makes his initial court appearance.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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