'Do the right thing,' family of British teen killed in crash tells U.S. diplomat's wife

Record ID: 1436706

  • Title: 'Do the right thing,' family of British teen killed in crash tells U.S. diplomat's wife
  • Date: 14th October 2019
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 14, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FAMILY OF HARRY DUNN APPROACHING LECTERN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, HARRY DUNN'S MOTHER, SAYING: "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 our U.K. system and just do the right thing. She needs to set an example to her own children that you can't run away when you've done something so terribly wrong. CHARLOTTE CHARLES LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, HARRY DUNN'S MOTHER, SAYING: "We heard in a statement. I have not heard a 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 that lot... The car was extremely damaged as well as Harry. So 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 can help, mediators. But just hearing it through a statement. We're seven weeks in now. It's a bit too much, too little, too late. I'm afraid." CHARLOTTE CHARLES LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, HARRY DUNN'S MOTHER, SAYING: "Not let her go home. Whoever made that decision we do not know. But we shouldn't have gone through this. We shouldn't be suffering like this. It should have been an open and shut case. The evidence is extremely clear, what happened. We've been told that there is CCTV evidence showing her leaving RAF Croughton on the wrong side of the road and that CCTV follows her all the way down the road on the wrong side of the road and you see Harry's headlight of his motorbike. And then there's a big fireball when his bike went up. So it should've been a clear cut case. It should have been simple. And I promised Harry and we promised Harry as a family when we'd lost him that night, when we were talking to him in the hospital, we'd 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. FAMILY OF HARRY DUNN (RIGHT TO LEFT) STEPMOTHER TRACEY DUNN, FATHER TIM DUNN, FAMILY SPOKESPERSON RADD SEIGER, MOTHER CHARLOTTE CHARLES AND STEPFATHER BRUCE CHARLES (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, HARRY DUNN'S MOTHER, SAYING: "They wanted to pursue her or charge her with 'death by dangerous driving'. We spoke to the police right at 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's robbed us of one of ours. It wasn't 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. CHARLOTTE CHARLES CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIM DUNN, HARRY DUNN'S FATHER, SAYING: "I've always wanted to ask her if she could explain the moment of the crash. Find out if she comforted Harry, if she spoke to Harry. Find out what her movements were. Did she try to call the emergency services or, I don't know, I'm just struggling because I can't imagine my lad being in the ditch and not having any comfort from anybody until the ambulance and the police turned up x minutes later. TIM DUNN LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIM DUNN, HARRY DUNN'S FATHER, SAYING: "When we had the funeral, which was a lovely tribute to him, I thought maybe that was the time we were going to turn the corner. But then it wasn't until a week later when we found out that she'd left the country. And now it feels like it's just gone right back to that night he died and it's just no way I could start grieving yet, as a family we can't start yet. We need, we need this resolved. We do need this resolved." FAMILY STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIM DUNN, HARRY DUNN'S FATHER, SAYING: "To me it is so, so simple. It's just... 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 of you here, if your son or 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." TIM DUNN LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) TIM DUNN, HARRY DUNN'S FATHER, SAYING: (ON WHAT HE WOULD SAY TO U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP) "I would just say to him as a man, as you know a father, thank you. Just to see how it is. How could you let this happen. If you were a father and your child had died, surely you'd want that person to own up and take the responsibility of their actions. That's all it is. That's all we want." GREEN RIBBON FOR HARRY ON RADD SEIGER'S LAPEL AND SEIGER TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) RADD SEIGER, DUNN FAMILY SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "I can't imagine that a single person watching this can comprehend the actions that either the U.S. government took or the Sacoolases when they got on that plane and flew back home. And what were they thinking? They knew they were leaving this family. They didn't know who they were. But look these are normal people up here with me. They are you and I. What would any of us do, and you know, God bless these people up here. They are terrific people. They don't mean Anne Sacoolas any ill will. It was, it was an accident. But the conduct afterwards has been nothing short of disgraceful." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHARLOTTE CHARLES, HARRY DUNN'S MOTHER, SAYING: "That's going to be on our next thing. We have to get change. We can't have diplomats and their spouses and, or their dependents being able to be living, working in the UK, commit a crime especially serious one as this and just be allowed to go home. It's not right. As I keep saying it's inhumane. It shouldn't be happening and we will do all we can to make sure that it doesn't happen to anyone else." FAMILY STANDING
  • Embargoed: 28th October 2019 16:33
  • 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: LVA001B12M81Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: THIS STORY IS A HD/HIGHER QUALITY VIDEO VERSION OF 1218-BRITAIN-USA/CRASH.
    The parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash in England involving a U.S. diplomat's wife vowed on Monday (October 14) to keep fighting until they get justice for their son after the American woman responsible for the crash returned to the United States.
    Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn spoke to media in New York during a visit intended put pressure on the Trump administration to send Anne Sacoolas back to British investigators.
    "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 a car driven by Sacoolas crashed into his motorbike near RAF Croughton, an air force base in Northamptonshire in central England used by the United States military.
    A spokesman for Dunn's parents said the family would travel to Washington this week to put pressure on U.S. authorities and that they were looking for legal assistance in the United States.
    "They don't mean Anne Sacoolas any ill will. It was an accident, but the conduct afterwards has been nothing short of disgraceful."
    Through her lawyers Sacoolas said she is "devastated" and she wants to meet with Dunn's family, according to media reports. Seiger said a meeting between the two parties depended on Sacoolas' willingness to return to Britain.
    Sacoolas left Britain under a claim of diplomatic immunity but that has become a point of contention between the two countries.
    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week urged President Donald Trump to reconsider a decision to let her claim immunity.
    Trump has not commented on the issue of immunity but said his administration would look into the matter, without offering details.
    (Production: Angela Moore, Andrew Hofstetter, Maria Caspani)
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