The United States declined to extradite the wife of an American diplomat who fled the United Kingdom after she was involved in a crash that killed a teenager.
Britain requested the extradition of Anne Sacoolas late last week, which the State Department called “highly inappropriate,” citing her diplomatic status at the time of the crash.
“Under the circumstances of this case, we strongly believe that an extradition request would be highly inappropriate,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to the Washington Examiner.
The State Department said it would continue to look at “options moving forward,” but the extradition request for “an individual under these circumstances would be an abuse.”
Sacoolas, 42, fled the U.K. after she allegedly drove on the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a motorcycle ridden by 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who died at a local hospital.
The case prompted an international row when the U.S. rebuffed Dunn’s parents’ efforts to seek justice for their dead son. Dunn’s parents pleaded with President Trump to send Sacoolas back to the U.K. and visited the White House in October to meet with him. But Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn said they felt ambushed when Trump tried to get them to meet with Sacoolas, who was waiting in a separate room.
The Aug. 27 crash happened near the Royal Air Force Croughton station in Northamptonshire, where Sacoolas’s husband Jonathan, 43, worked at the time.
Sacoolas was charged in December with causing the death by dangerous driving.
“Anne is devastated by this tragic accident and would do anything she could to bring Harry back,” Sacoolas’s lawyer Amy Jeffress said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“We remain willing to work with the U.K. authorities to identify a path forward,” Jeffress said.
