Wife of U.S. Diplomat Involved in Fatal Crash Says She’s ‘Terribly Sorry for the Tragic Mistake’

Bill Pan
By Bill Pan
October 15, 2019UK
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Wife of U.S. Diplomat Involved in Fatal Crash Says She’s ‘Terribly Sorry for the Tragic Mistake’
A general view of flowers left on the roadside near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, central England, on Oct. 10, 2019. (Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images)

The U.S. diplomat’s wife, who was involved in a crash that killed a young British man, broke silence as she admitted “driving on the wrong side of the road” and said she was “terribly sorry for that tragic mistake.”

42-year-old Anne Sacoolas, a mother of three and the wife of an American official, left the United Kingdom shortly after the Aug. 27 accident near a Royal Air Force base where her husband worked. Harry Dunn, 19, was killed in the crash when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Sacoolas, who reportedly pulled out of the base on the wrong side of the road, unaware of the country’s left-driving rules.

Harry Dunn
Harry Dunn. (Courtesy of justice4Harry/Facebook)

In a statement obtained by the Daily Mail from her lawyer Amy Jeffress, Anne Sacoolas said she had “no time to react” when she saw Dunn coming towards her.

In her own account of what happened, Saccolas said she spoke to Harry Dunn, telling that she was going to call for help before returning to her car to comfort her own children. She reportedly waved down another car that pulled over and offered to help.

Jeffress said Sacoolas did not leave the scene until the ambulance had arrived and the police told her they had everything they needed from her and allowed her to go home.

“Anne is devastated by this tragic accident,” said Jeffress on behalf of her client. “No loss compares to the death of a child, and Anne extends her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn’s family.” She added that Sacoolas would like to meet with the young man’s parents to “express her deepest sympathies and apologies for this tragic accident.”

Mother of Harry Dunn, UK US diplomat
Mother of Harry Dunn, Charlotte Charles, speaks to the media after meeting with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in London, England, on Oct. 9, 2019. (Peter Summers/Getty Images)

Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, said they were frustrated by the decision to allow Sacoolas to leave the country, reported the Sky News.

“We’re not a horrible family, we’re a usual U.K. family that just need to put a face to what we have now is a name,” said the mother Charlotte Charles. “She’s got to be suffering as well, she’s a mum.”

“She needs to set an example to her own children that you can’t run away,” Charles said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also become involved, promising to discuss the matter with President Donald Trump if that is needed to bring Sacoolas back to the United Kingdom for justice.

“I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose,” Johnson told the press on Monday. “I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country.”

“If we can’t resolve it then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House,” Johnson said.

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