British Family Seeks Justice After US Diplomat’s Wife Kills Son in Car Crash

British Family Seeks Justice After US Diplomat's Wife Kills Son in Car Crash

By VOA News

October 6, 2019 09:49 PM

The parents of a British teenager who was killed when a U.S. diplomat's wife collided her car into the teenager's motorcycle have reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump after she left the UK, claiming diplomatic immunity.

"It's just such a dishonorable thing to do, to just leave and go back and abscond back to her own country," Charlotte Charles, the mother of 19 year-old Harry Dunn said. She called the crash that killed her son a "clear-cut case."

"She was on the wrong side of the road. She admitted to a witness that night she was on the wrong side of the road to the police. The next day, she said she had no intention of leaving." Charles said. She added that the woman left for the U.S. just after her son Harry's funeral.

The State Department has declined to identify the woman, only calling her the 42-year-old wife of a U.S diplomat.

British police say on August 27, the woman was driving her Volvo on a highway near Croughton air force base in Northamptonshire when she struck Harry's motorcycle head on. It is unclear if she was injured in the accident.

British police say they needed her diplomatic immunity waived if they were to interview her. But police say the U.S. embassy declined and the suspect left Britain.

The State Department says it sent its condolences to Harry Dunn's family. The agency says any questions regarding immunity gets "careful attention" at the highest levels, but adds that immunity is rarely waived.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says he has spoken to the U.S. ambassador and said he urges the embassy to reconsider its refusal to issue a waiver.