US Diplomat's Wife's Immunity 'No Longer Relevant'

Anne Sacoolas tells family of UK's Harry Dunn she's 'devastated by this tragic accident'
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 13, 2019 5:42 AM CDT
US Diplomat's Wife's Immunity 'No Longer Relevant'
The father of Harry Dunn, Tim Dunn, leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, where the family members met British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. 19-year-old Harry Dunn was killed in a road accident Aug. 27, involving an American diplomat's wife.   (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

The American diplomat's wife who fled the United Kingdom under the auspices of diplomatic immunity "is devastated by this tragic accident" that killed a 19-year-old man on a motorcycle, per the BBC. "No loss compares to the death of a child and Anne extends her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn's family," according to a statement put out by Anne Sacoolas. Sacoolas says she'd like to meet Dunn's parents, but that meeting, if it takes place, will apparently be in the United States, per Sky News. Dunn's parents are headed stateside to pressure the US into sending Sacoolas back to Britain to face justice in the Aug. 27 accident that killed Dunn; Sacoolas was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road. Says Dunn's mom: "My opinion on Anne Sacoolas now wanting to come forward and say sorry—yes it's the start of some closure for our family. Having said that, as it's nearly seven weeks now since we lost our boy, sorry just doesn't cut it."

Meanwhile, the US and the UK have concluded that Sacoolas' diplomatic immunity is something of a moot point. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tells Dunn's family that "We have pressed strongly for a waiver of immunity, so that justice can be done... Whilst the US government has steadfastly declined to give that waiver, that is not the end of the matter. ... Immunity, and therefore any question of waiver, is no longer relevant in Mrs Sacoolas's case, because she has returned home. The US have now informed us that they too consider that immunity is no longer pertinent." A lawyer for the Dunn family calls Sacoolas "a fugitive from British justice" and says "we do hope she returns herself voluntarily and that this was just a bad piece of advice she received from the American authorities." (President Trump says wrong-way driving "happens.")

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