NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (Court TV) — Jurors in the trial of a man accused of killing his teen girlfriend while riding home from a party saw the defendant’s police interview, which showed him sobbing after learning of the victim’s death.
Cooper Ouellette sits in court on Oct. 30, 2026. (Court TV)
Cooper Ouellette, now 21, was 18 when he was charged with vehicular manslaughter and selling or delivering liquor to a minor in the death of his girlfriend, Sophie Ringquist, 17. The two teens had gone out to a party on May 20, 2023, but when Ouellette returned Ringquist to her home, she was slumped over in his truck with a bloody nose and a chipped front tooth.
On Friday, the second day of testimony, Connecticut State Police Detective Tyler Bastos showed the jury body-worn camera video recorded on May 21, 2023, when Bastos went to the defendant’s home to talk about what had happened to Ringquist.
In the interview, Ouellette told Bastos that he had been driving Ringquist home from a party when she said that she had to throw up. “I put my blinker on, I went to go pull over. Before I can even pull over, she just jumps out,” he said. Ouellette estimated he was driving 30 mph before he abruptly tried to slow down. “I mean, [I was] probably doing 10 miles an hour, so I mean, yeah, she jumped out at 10 miles an hour.”
Ouellette explained that he unlocked his Chevy pickup truck before Ringquist jumped out. “I was trying to pull over to get off the road a little bit, so if she did jump out, where I pulled over, there was no houses. So when she jumped out, it was all dirt there where she jumped out.”
When Bastos asked Ouellette to come with him to the barracks for a more complete interview, the defendant’s mother intervened and said no. Bastos then told him Ringquist had died from injuries she suffered the night before.
“Wait, are you serious?” Ouellette asked before dissolving into sobs. His mother then talked to Bastos.
“They were going to get married, OK?” Ouellette’s mother told Bastos. “[Ringquist] has their baby names picked out. How can this be? I don’t understand this, I’m sorry. … What did she die of, again?”
In an affidavit reviewed by Court TV, investigators said that Ringquist was thrown from Ouellette’s truck twice. Prosecutors allege the teens were arguing in the car before video captured Ringquist falling from the truck the first time. Vehicle and cellphone data suggest that Ouellette circled back to pick up his girlfriend, who got back into the truck, investigators said. The affidavit said that Ringquist sent a photo of her bloodied face to a friend from inside the truck before she was knocked out of the car a second time.
In his interview with Bastos, Ouellette said that after Ringquist fell from his vehicle, he picked her up and put her back inside. Ouellette said Ringquist was speaking and told him she was fine, but that by the time he brought her down her driveway she was “completely out of it all of a sudden; she wouldn’t respond.”
On Thursday, Ringquist’s mother testified that her daughter, who had been dating the defendant for more than three years, often wore a necklace bearing the name “Cooper.” On Friday, Connecticut State Police Sgt. Jamie Pearston testified that Ringquist’s necklace was found in Ouellette’s truck, in pieces. Pearston said the necklace, found on the driver’s-side floor mat, was broken but not at the clasp. Under cross-examination, Pearston acknowledged that the necklace was never tested for DNA.
Ouellette has maintained his innocence, claiming Ringquist jumped from the vehicle voluntarily. His attorney told Court TV before the trial started that he expects his client to testify.
