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Boris Johnson Says He’s Ready to Press Trump on U.K. Teenager’s Death

Johnson Ready to Press Trump on U.K. Teenager’s Death Crash

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he’s prepared to raise the death of a British teenager with U.S. President Donald Trump after the wife of an American diplomat left the U.K. following a fatal road accident.

The diplomatic spat comes at a time when Johnson is looking to strengthen ties with the U.S. as he negotiates Britain’s departure from the European Union. The prime minister is caught between championing a cause that has sparked a public outcry in the U.K. media -- as he prepares to fight an election -- and remaining on good terms with Trump.

Boris Johnson Says He’s Ready to Press Trump on U.K. Teenager’s Death

Motorcyclist Harry Dunn died after a collision with a car on Aug. 27 near a U.S. Airbase at Croughton, central England, according to Northamptonshire Police. The force said “a 42-year-old American woman being treated as a suspect in our investigation” has since left the country.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in London confirmed the driver of the car had diplomatic immunity, but declined to identify her.

“I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose,” Johnson told Sky News on Monday. He said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is raising the issue with the U.S. Embassy. “If we can’t resolve it, then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House,” Johnson said.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement expressing sympathy to Dunn’s family but said diplomatic immunity is “rarely waived.”

“Any questions regarding a waiver of the immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry,” the embassy statement said. “Immunity is rarely waived.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny

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