American who killed British motorcyclist and had to fear no consequences regrets

She was driving on the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with the motorcyclist.

I think a lot about the death of British motorcyclist Harry Dunn. His death, which happened a few years ago and was reported RideApart at this time is certainly a tragedy. Not only did Dunn die due to a thoughtless mistake by Anne Sacoolas, but she received no real punishment and Dunn’s family received no real closure.

For those unfamiliar with Dunn’s death, American Anne Sacoolas was working in the UK for the US State Department at the time and was driving home one day. She turned onto a road, but instead of understanding that the British drive on the opposite side of the road compared to the US, she just drove “normally”, as she puts it.

And then she hit Dunn and killed him.

Two years ago, she was sentenced to eight months in prison. In fact, she faced no prison sentence at all as the sentence was suspended for 12 months. This meant that Sacoolas could be released if she did not commit any crimes in the UK for the next year. Not hard when you don’t live in the country, right?

Recently, however, Sacoolas was back in the news when statements made by the American were released during a new investigation into the accident. And frankly, they make her actions and the way she evaded responsibility look even worse than they already did, especially since she left the country under the pretext of “diplomatic immunity” after killing Dunn.

“I deeply regret causing this accident. I made a tragic mistake that I will live with every single day for the rest of my life,” the BBC reports of Sacoolas’ recent statements, adding: “Not a single day goes by that I don’t think of Harry and I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused.”

But if that was the case, why did they not present themselves to the family? Why did they not accept the coroner’s “invitation to give evidence in person at the inquest”? Why did they claim diplomatic immunity immediately after the accident?

Sacoolas was not present at this last examination.

Harry’s family is not happy about this either. He spoke to the BBC through the family’s lawyer: “We’ve heard most of this before. Why on earth is Sacoolas not in court to answer the court’s and the family’s questions?”

And they are not wrong.

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