'Do the right thing' : Family of U.K teen killed by U.S. diplomat's wife want her back in the United Kingdom

Record ID: 1436663

  • Title: 'Do the right thing' : Family of U.K teen killed by U.S. diplomat's wife want her back in the United Kingdom
  • Date: 14th October 2019
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 14, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN WHO WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO CRASH, MOVING TOWARDS THE PODIUM TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AFTER THE FAMILY'S LAWYER RADD SIEGER MAKES REMARKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN WHO WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO CRASH, SAYING: "We need him to agree to put her. On a plane back to the UK. Although having said that I believe that she should be able to make that decision herself. She needs to just do the right thing. And just come back and. Face what she's done face us as a broken family. Face a UK system and. Just do the right thing. She needs to set an example to her home children that you can't. Run away. WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN WHO WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO CRASH, SAYING: "We heard in a statement. We have not heard her voice. I don't know how sincere it was. Of course she's suffering. We've known all along she would be suffering. Her children must be suffering. Two of them were in the car and that's horrific. I wasn't wasn't that lot. The car was extremely damaged as well as Harry. We're not inhumane. We don't---we still don't wish her any ill harm. But we need to hear it from her in her own words, in a room, on our terms, in the UK, with therapists and whoever else around us that we can help--- mediators. But just hearing it through a statement --- we are seven weeks in now. It's a bit too much, too little too late, I'm afraid. " WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN WHO WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO CRASH, SAYING: "So it should have been a clear cut case. It should have been simple. And I promised Harry, and we promised Harry as a family when we lost him that night, when we were talking to him in the hospital---we had lost him already ---that we would make sure justice was done. We thought it would be an easy one, an easy case with all the evidence that the Northamptonshire Police have. But clearly not. And that's why we're here. WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN WHO WAS KILLED IN AN AUTO CRASH, SAYING: "They wanted to pursue her or charge her with death by dangerous driving. We spoke to the police right in the beginning. Knowing that she had children we were going to work with them. Ask for her sentence to be reduced to death by careless. And ask for a suspended so that we didn't take her away from her children although she robbed us off one of ours. It was an unintentional. It was an accident. We understand that. But seven weeks on---and we've had to do this to get an apology. Just in writing. That's just wrong." WHITE FLASH FATHER OF HARRY DUNN, TIM DUNN, BEING ASKED BY REPORTER (OFF- SCREEN) WHAT HE WOULD SAY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP IF HE COULD MEET HIM (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER OF HARRY DUNN, TIM DUNN, SAYING: "To me it's so, so simple. On that night, there was an accident. A lady made a mistake. She killed our son. She didn't mean to kill him, she didn't mean to have the accident. But you cannot walk away from that and just leave and expect nothing to happen. Our boy died. He deserves to have some justice whatever that turns out to be. All you here if your child was to die, you would want justice for your child. And that's all we want. We don't want---we just want justice. We want justice for Harry." WIDE OF FAMILY
  • Embargoed: 28th October 2019 15:26
  • Keywords: Harry Dunn fatal crash Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles diplomat wife Anne Sacoolas
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B12M4W7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: FOR A HIGHER VIDEO QUALITY VERSION, PLEASE SEE 1218-BRITAIN-USA/CRASH UPDATE
    QUALITY AS INCOMING
    The parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash involving a U.S. diplomat's wife vowed on Monday (October 14) to keep fighting until they get justice for their son.
    Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn spoke to media in New York during a visit they hope will put pressure on Washington to allow for Anne Sacoolas to be sent back to the United Kingdom and face investigators there.
    After the accident, Sacoolas flew back to the U.S. under diplomatic immunity.
    "She needs to just do the right thing and just come back and face what she's done," said Dunn's mother Charlotte, her voice breaking with emotion. "We promised Harry as a family when we lost him that night...that we would make sure justice was done."
    Harry Dunn, 19, died after Sacoolas' car crashed into his motorbike near RAF Croughton, an air force base in Northamptonshire in central England that is used by the United States.
    A spokesman for Dunn's parents said the family will travel to Washington this week to put pressure on U.S. authorities and that they were looking for legal assistance in the United States.
    Whether Sacoolas was protected by diplomatic immunity has been an issue of contention between the two countries.
    Britain's Foreign Office told Dunn's family that once Sacoolas returned to the United States she no longer had diplomatic immunity, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week urged President Donald Trump to reconsider a decision to let her use immunity.
    "To me it's so, so simple... She killed our son. She didn't mean to kill him, she didn't mean to have the accident. But you cannot walk away from that and just leave and expect nothing to happen," Dunn's father, Tim Dunn, told reporters.
    (Production: Andrew Hofstetter, Pavithra George)
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