A US government official has expressed her regret for her “tragic mistake” that led to the death of a motorcyclist on a country road.
Harry Dunn, 19, was struck by a car driven by an American, Anne Sacoolas, in 2019 near the US military airbase –RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
While not present at the inquest, Sacoolas provided two additional statements to the Northampton Coroners’ Court, which supplemented her original statements to her attorneys in 2020 and from a police interrogation two months after the incident.
Following the crash, Sacoolas fled Britain while claiming diplomatic immunity.
The US government has come under fire from a coroner for not providing Anne Sacoolas, one of its employees, with enough training before the collision that claimed Harry Dunn’s life.
In August 2019, Anne Pember concluded that the young motorcyclist’s death was caused by injuries sustained during a head-on collision with a car that was traveling on the incorrect side of the road at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
Dunn’s family declared they were eager to collaborate with the next administration to launch a public investigation and accused the US government of “obstructing” the case. The implication is that the Biden administration is giving them no satisfaction.
When Anne Sacoolas left the Northamptonshire air base RAF Croughton in August 2019, she drove for 0.3 of a mile on the incorrect side of the road. She struck him head-on, going 40 mph, killing him.
Nineteen days later, Sacoolas flew out of Britain, claiming her diplomatic immunity.
Sacoolas was employed by the US government in an “analytical role” when she admitted to causing someone’s death through reckless driving in 2022. She was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
She described how her family had attended a cookout at RAF Croughton, an American government covert listening site. During the police interrogation, Sacoolas acknowledged that she disliked “playing chicken” with other vehicles in the small lanes on country roads in Britain.
Sacoolas stated she was a “safe driver” in a statement she provided during a voluntary interview with Northamptonshire Police.
When Northamptonshire Police investigators asked her opinion on what caused the crash, she said she was driving like an American on the wrong side of the road.
In her most recent statement before the inquiry, Sacoolas expressed her sincere sorrow for causing the catastrophe, adding that not a day has gone by since Harry was not on her mind. She is deeply sorry for the pain she caused.
