Politico | Joe Biden and Boris Johnson ‘working together’ on case of US diplomat’s wife accused of killing British teenager

Harry Dunn, 19, was killed after Anne Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road in August 2019 and hit him with her car
In January 2020, under former President Donald Trump, the US rejected the UK’s calls to extradite Sacoolas to face the charges of causing death by dangerous driving

Joe Biden

POLITICO

Published: 2:22am, 12 Jun 2021

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This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Ben Leonard on politico.com on June 11, 2021.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is “working together” with President Joe Biden on the case of the wife of a US intelligence officer who was been charged with killing a teenage motorcyclist in the UK, Johnson told the BBC.

Anne Sacoolas left the UK after the crash, claiming diplomatic immunity. Biden is “actively engaged” in the case, Johnson told the BBC, but the prime minister tempered expectations.

“He has his own personal reasons for feeling very deeply about the issue,” Johnson said of the president in his interview with the BBC. “He was extremely sympathetic, but this is not something that either government can control very easily because there are legal processes that are still going on.”

Biden’s first wife and daughter were killed in a car crash in 1972, a personal tragedy that the president has spoken often about in his political life.

Charlotte Charles, the mother of Harry Dunn, who was killed in a crash by the wife of a US diplomat, is seen in front of a poster with her son’s face during a protest demanding justice for her son in 2019. Photo: AP

Johnson told the BBC that “there are limits to what the executive can do with the legal, with the judiciary and the legal system.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Johnson’s comments were reported as Biden, Johnson and other world leaders were set to meet on Friday for the G7 summit.

Harry Dunn, 19, was killed after Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road in Northamptonshire, UK in August 2019 and hit him with her car.

Under former President Donald Trump in January 2020, the US rejected the UK’s calls to extradite Sacoolas to face the charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

Johnson had called on Trump to change the US government’s stance on Sacoolas. Dunn’s parents accused Trump of trying to force them to meet Sacoolas in the White House.

Interpol issued a Red Notice for Sacoolas in May 2020, a notice issued “for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence”.