Harry’s hit-and-run killer admits: I was driving on the wrong side of the road
THE US motorist accused of killing teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn has admitted being on the ‘wrong side of the road for 20 seconds’ before the fatal collision.
Lawyers for Anne Sacoolas, 43, said she ‘instinctively’ began driving on the right-hand side outside RAF Croughton, the US air base in Northamptonshire where her intelligence officer husband was stationed.
They also said they were ‘willing to discuss’ a virtual trial.
Harry’s mother, Charlotte Charles, has said the family were told after the August 2019 crash that CCTV showed Mrs Sacoolas on the wrong side of the road.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Mrs Sacoolas’s lawyers added: ‘Anne did everything she could to assist Harry. After the accident, she ran from her car and tried to help him. Anne then saw another motorist and flagged her down for more support.
‘The other motorist immediately called for the emergency services and Anne made calls to alert the police from the nearby air force base. Tragically, it took over 40 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and nearly two hours passed before Harry was admitted to the hospital. Anne did not leave the scene until she was instructed to do so by the UK authorities.’
The family flew home to Virginia within weeks, after Mrs Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity.
She was charged with causing Harry’s death by dangerous driving in December but the US refused an extradition request.
Earlier this week, speculation intensified that Mrs Sacoolas may accept a virtual trial under UK law or a trial in absentia, proposals being examined by Suella Braverman QC, the Attorney General.
Mrs Sacoolas’s lawyers said: ‘We have been and remain willing to discuss a resolution, including the possibility of virtual proceedings, with the UK authorities.
‘Anne has never tried to avoid being held accountable for the tragic accident and she would like nothing more than to find a path forward and to provide the family some measure of peace.’
After Mrs Sacoolas was charged, her lawyer Amy Jeffress said the maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment for causing death by dangerous driving was ‘not a proportionate response’. She said her client will ‘not return voluntarily to the UK to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident’.
Radd Seiger, the Dunn family spokesman, said of Harry’s parents: ‘Once again, they invite [Mrs Sacoolas] to do the right thing and return to the UK to answer to the charges laid against her.’
Last November it was revealed paramedics took 43 minutes to reach Harry because his case was ‘wrongly categorised’ by the ambulance service. His injuries were listed as category 2, requiring an ambulance within 40 minutes, instead of category 1, which should see an ambulance arrive within seven minutes.