U.S. Diplomat’s Wife Sued by Family of U.K. Teen Killed in Crash
U.S. Diplomat’s Wife Sued by Family of U.K. Teen Killed in Crash
(Bloomberg) -- The family of a British teenager who died last year in a car crash involving the wife of a U.S. diplomat sued the American woman and her husband in federal court in Virginia.
The British authorities have charged the diplomat’s wife, Anne Sacoolas, with dangerous driving, saying she was on the wrong side of the road when she collided head-on with 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was riding a motorcycle. Sacoolas fled Britain shortly after the accident in August 2019, and the Trump administration rejected an extradition request from the British government, arguing that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity because her husband, Jonathan, was working at a U.S. military base.
The case became a major diplomatic incident, causing outrage in Britain. In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Dunn’s parents and twin brother said Sacoolas was negligent in her driving and failed to call an ambulance after the accident. They are seeking unspecified damages.
Read More -- U.K. Says U.S. Diplomat’s Wife No Longer Has Immunity: BBC
“She left Harry to suffer as he lay face down on the side of the road, afraid of dying, fully conscious with multiple broken bones,” according to the lawsuit.
A lawyer for Sacoolas didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the time of the accident, the lawsuit said, Dunn was well rested and obeying the rules of the road. When Sacoolas hit him, he was catapulted off the the motorcycle and into the front of her SUV, according to the lawsuit. But Sacoolas never called an ambulance, according to the suit. It was a passerby who stopped at the scene a few minutes later who sought medical help.
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