Family of Harry Dunn reaches a ‘resolution’ with US diplomat’s wife who hit son with car
By Vasco Cotovio and Jonny Hallam, CNN
The family of British teenager Harry Dunn, killed in a crash two years ago, has reached a “resolution” in a civil lawsuit against the woman who was charged in his death, the spokesperson for the Dunn family said Tuesday.
Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat, has admitted driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash in August 2019. She was later charged in the United Kingdom with causing Dunn’s death by dangerous driving.
The US State Department in January 2020 rejected an extradition request to return her to the UK for prosecution, and she remains in the United States. Unable to seek prosecution against Sacoolas in England, Dunn’s parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, brought a civil lawsuit for damages against her in Virginia, where she lives with her husband.
“Harry’s family continue to suffer unimaginable pain and miss him each and every day. Their mental health is at an all time low,” family spokesperson Radd Seiger told CNN.
“It has therefore come as some considerable relief to them that a resolution to the civil claim has been now been reached successfully between the parties and they can put this part of the campaign behind them.”
The spokesperson did not disclose the details of the agreement.
Seiger said the Dunn family had courage and determination in the face of a mounting legal battle, but he warned that their struggle is not over.
“This is a pivot point in the campaign, a real milestone,” he said in a written statement. “But there is much work left to be done before Justice for Harry can be said to be done and we leave an important legacy behind for him that what happened to this family will never happen to another British family again at the hands of the US Government and that all stakeholders can learn lessons from this most tragic of deaths and a terrible low in the history of the relations between the US and UK.”
Dunn, 19, was struck and killed when Sacoolas drove head-on into his motorcycle in August 2019 near RAF Croughton, a military base in central England known to be used by US intelligence agencies.
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