U.S. diplomat’s wife who killed 19-year-old motorcyclist in U.K. collision to appear virtually in British court

Anne Sacoolas, the U.S. diplomat’s wife who fled the U.K. after killing a 19-year-old man while she was driving on the wrong side of the road, will appear in court virtually this week.

Sacoolas, 45, had just pulled out of Royal Air Force Base Croughton in Northamptonshire, England, in August 2019 when she rounded a hill and collided head-on with a motorcycle driven by Harry Dunn. He died later that day.

Harry Dunn was riding his motorcycle outside a military base in Central England in August 2019 when he collided with Anne Sacoolas, pictured, who confessed to driving on the wrong side of the road.

At the time it emerged that she had been in the country just three weeks. Her 12-year-old son was in the passenger seat of her car when she hit Dunn, and then drove off in what was classified as a hit-and-run.

She later admitted she’d been driving on the wrong side of the road.

Harry Dunn

When found later, Sacoolas at first cooperated with authorities, but then left the country, invoking diplomatic immunity. She fled after assuring investigators she planned to stay put. Dunn’s family tried to get her extradited back, to no avail, and filed a wrongful-death suit in February last year.

Sacoolas tried to get the civil charges dismissed and the case moved to the U.K., but in February 2021, a judge denied the request and ruled that it could proceed. The parties reached a settlement in September 2021.

Sacoolas was charged last December with causing death by dangerous driving. Her court date this Thursday is merely procedural, a spokesperson for the law firm representing her, Arnold and Porter, told CNN. She has indicated she’s willing to do community service but won’t return to the U.K.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced last December that she would be tried in a British court, and this appearance is the first step toward potentially bringing the case to trial.

With News Wire Services