A wrongful death case against a Delaware State Police trooper appears headed for trial, after a Delaware Superior Court judge on Tuesday rejected the state’s assertion that the officer had not directly caused a high-speed crash that killed a woman during a police chase.
In a 27-page memorandum opinion, Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli denied a motion for summary judgment by Trooper Owen Cocolin and the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s Division of State Police, saying that a jury should decide whether Cocolin acted with gross negligence in a 2014 pursuit in Wilmington that killed 53-year-old Mary Smith.
