Latest news with #roadcollision
BBC News
13 hours ago
- BBC News
Harry Dunn: What happened in the case of teenage motorcyclist?
Almost six years since the death of motorcyclist Harry Dunn outside a US military base in the UK, an investigative review has criticised the way Northamptonshire Police handled the driver of the car involved in the collision, US diplomat Anne Sacoolas, was handed an eight-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, after pleading guilty to criminal did a road collision end up with the victim's family losing confidence in the police and the Northamptonshire force being criticised in an official report? Who was Harry Dunn? Mr Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, said the 19-year-old was "larger than life" with a "great" sense of 27 August 2019, he died in a crash near RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, after Sacoolas's car struck his motorbike moments after she left the car was driving on the right-hand side of the road when it should have been on the had diplomatic immunity asserted on her behalf by the US administration. They then both left the UK. Who is Anne Sacoolas? Sacoolas was described in the 2025 investigative review of the case as "a married mother of three" who had "held a US drivers' licence and had done so since the age of 15".At the time of the collision in 2019, her husband Jonathan was a US intelligence officer and the couple and their three children had been in the UK for a few family's four-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son had been in the car with their mother when the collision happened. They had been attending a barbecue at RAF a court hearing in Virginia in 2021, a barrister said that Ms Sacoolas herself had been "employed by an intelligence agency in the US" at the time of the crash and her work was "especially a factor" in her leaving the immunity gives some people, such as foreign diplomats and, in some cases, their families, protection from arrest and prosecution in their host had, however, been a secret agreement between the UK and US governments that allowed for the prosecution of diplomats for crimes committed outside their duties but gave their families greater protection. Why did the crash cause a diplomatic row? Following the fatal crash, Mr Dunn's parents Mrs Charles and Tim Dunn, aided by spokesperson Radd Seiger, began a campaign to have the case brought to led them to the White House and a meeting in October 2019 with Donald Trump, then in his first term as US the meeting, he revealed Sacoolas was in the next room, but the family felt "ambushed" and did not meet December 2019, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised Northamptonshire Police to charge Sacoolas with causing Mr Dunn's an extradition request for her to be brought to the UK was rejected by the US the then-Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, when she was Foreign Secretary, raised the case with the US government. How did Anne Sacoolas end up in court? In the absence of extradition, the family launched a civil claim for damages against Sacoolas and her husband in the December 2021, the CPS said Sacoolas would appear at court in the UK to face unspecified a month later it said the court date had been postponed to allow "ongoing" discussions with the US national's legal a change in the law meant Sacoolas was able to appear in court via video-link and she pleaded guilty on screen at the Old Bailey to causing death by careless driving on 20 October 2022. The 45-year-old was originally charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the CPS accepted her plea to the lesser was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment suspended for 12 months, once again appearing via video-link after the US government advised Sacoolas not to attend her sentencing was also disqualified from driving for 12 months. What did Harry Dunn's family say after the hearing? Mrs Charles said: "Getting to court and getting to where we are now has been the most monumental thing for me because I can talk to him now and tell him we've done it. Promise complete."Mr Dunn Snr said: "I go up to the crash site quite a lot - I went there a couple of days ago to strim and put some daffodils in ready for the spring."Hopefully we've given hope to other families that they can do the same as us and get justice and believe and fight because it will happen in the end, it will happen." What has happened since the sentencing? A second funeral for Mr Dunn was held in March 2024 after human tissue was found on clothing returned to the inquest in June 2024 concluded Mr Dunn died as a result of a road traffic collision, and the coroner called for driver training to be given to US personnel working in the UK. Northamptonshire Police launched an investigation into how the case was handled from the beginning. What did the investigation find? The review, written by a former senior police officer, made 38 separate found that, while officers believed Sacoolas was in a state of shock at the time, she "could and should have been arrested" after the also revealed that Mr Dunn was subjected to drug testing after the collision, but Sacoolas was review said none of the officers at the scene managed to gather footage from their body-worn cameras. It was also very critical of the chief constable at the time, Nick Adderley, who was sacked for gross misconduct in 2024 for lying about his career in the Royal said he made "erroneous statements" about Sacoolas's immunity status, and should not have criticised the family's spokesperson, Radd Seiger, at a press conference. The force has apologised for failing to "do the very best for the victim".Mrs Charles said: "I'm absolutely bewildered that the most fundamental of policing was not carried out. I'm struggling to get my head around that."Mr Seiger said Mr Adderley "nearly derailed" attempts to get justice for Mr Dunn but that Northamptonshire Police, under a new chief constable, was now "headed in the right direction". Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Tributes to man fatally struck by military vehicle near Catterick Garrison
Tributes have been paid to a man who was fatally struck by a military truck while riding his mobility Mitchell, 70, from Catterick Garrison, died while being airlifted to hospital following the collision on the A6136 Catterick Road, near Colburn, at about 12:50 BST on 11 a statement issued via police, Mr Mitchell's family described him as a "much loved husband, brother, uncle and godfather" who would be "sadly missed".North Yorkshire Police said the military vehicle's male driver and passenger were assisting officers. Police continued to appeal for anyone with information or dashcam footage of the collision, or the vehicles prior to the collision, to come to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Police Mishandled Fatal Crash Between American Driver and U.K. Teenager, Review Says
An independent review has sharply criticized the police in Britain over their handling of a 2019 road collision between an American driver and a teenage British motorcyclist in which the teenager died and the American subsequently fled the country on a claim of diplomatic immunity. The review, a 118-page report published on Wednesday, said that the police should have arrested the American driver, Anne Sacoolas, at the scene and that officers later mishandled forensic evidence. It also found fault with a senior officer's social media posts and public remarks about the case, and with how officers interacted with the parents of the 19-year-old victim, Harry Dunn. In publicizing the findings on Wednesday, the Northamptonshire Police, the force that was responsible for the case, apologized to Mr. Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn. 'The picture which emerges is one of a force which has failed the family on a number of fronts,' Emma James, the Northamptonshire Police's head of protective services, said in a statement. The fatal crash occurred as Ms. Sacoolas, a U.S. State Department employee whose husband worked for the American government at a British military base, was driving on the wrong side of the road near the village of Croughton, in central England, in August 2019. Mr. Dunn, whom her car struck, died later in a hospital. The episode caused international friction when Ms. Sacoolas left Britain three weeks after the crash, claiming diplomatic immunity. Britain issued an extradition request for her return, but the U.S. government rejected it, arguing in a statement at the time that honoring it 'would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a practical nullity and would set an extraordinarily troubling precedent.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Buckinghamshire road will be closed ‘for many hours' after crash
Police are asking motorists to avoid a country road which is "likely to be closed for many hours".Thames Valley Police said officers were on the scene of a serious road collision between Milton Keynes and crash took place on Clifton Road between Clifton Reynes and Newton Road Policing Unit said the South Central Ambulance Service and Air Ambulance Service were also in attendance. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- BBC News
Four seriously injured in head-on crash near Fancott pub
Three teenagers and a man have been taken to hospital with severe injuries after a head-on collision on a country Police said the crash happened on Luton Road near Toddington, just after 23:15 BST on Tuesday.A silver Vauxhall Astra travelling towards Luton collided with a silver Kia Rio, close to The Fancott said a man in his 20s suffered potentially life-threatening injuries, and one of three teenagers potentially faced life-changing injuries. Officers appealed for witnesses, information and dash-cam footage. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
