UK charges American diplomat's wife for killing teenager in road accident

An American diplomat's wife Anne Sacoolas has been reportedly charged with causing death by dangerous driving after being involved in a road accident that killed a British teenager. According to international media reports, Sacoolas has also left the United Kingdom and the Crown Prosecution Service has begun extradition proceedings against her. The decision to charge her has also caused tensions between the UK and the US. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab reportedly welcomed the move but the State Department called it helpful. 

According to reports, Harry Dunn, the 19-year-old motorcycle rider, died in August after being hit by a car driven by Sacoolas, whose husband was an intelligence officer at RAF Croughton. After the crash, Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and left Britain. The prosecution service has authorized police to charge against Sacoolas which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Dunn's family further urged her to return and face British justice. Although the prosecutors had begun extradition proceedings, it now up to the government to formally ask through diplomatic channels for Sacoolas to be sent back to Britain. 

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Diplomatic dispute

Sacoolas's lawyer, however, said that her client had co-operated fully with the investigation but will not be returning voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible and unintentional accident. The tragedy has caused a diplomatic dispute as under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, families of diplomats are granted immunity from arrest or detention, however, the British prosecutors reportedly said that the immunity does not apply to dependents of consular officials based outside of London. The US state department in a statement said, “at the time the accident occurred, and for the duration of her stay in the U.K., the driver, in this case, had a status that conferred diplomatic immunities”. They further expressed their deepest sympathies and further added that the decision to charge Sacoolas was not a helpful development. 

(With AP inputs)

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