US Diplomat's Wife Hit and Run in UK - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15039550
US Diplomat's Wife 'Claims Immunity and Leaves UK After Fatal Road Accident'

The wife of a US diplomat reportedly claimed immunity and left the UK after being involved in a fatal road accident.

Harry Dunn died in the incident near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27.

The 19-year-old was riding his motorbike when a woman emerged from the airbase on the wrong side of road and there was a head-on collision, it was reported. He later died in hospital.

Northamptonshire Police met with the suspect, who is the wife of a US diplomat and who claimed immunity, Sky News reported. The legal protection also covers dependents of diplomats.

Police applied for a waiver of the immunity to pursue the case, but their request was rejected and they were told she had left the country, the broadcaster reported, quoting Superintendent Sarah Johnson from Northamptonshire Police.

Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said he was disappointed by the US decision.

"I wish to offer my condolences to the family affected by this tragic incident," he told Sky News.

"I have called the US Ambassador to express the UK's disappointment with their decision, and to urge the Embassy to re-consider it."

Mr Dunn's family said they were "disgusted" by the outcome.

"We're disgusted, appalled, how she could be having this cloak wrapped around her," his father Tim told Sky News. "I'm angry that someone could do this and then get on a plane and go.

"We don't know how we can start to grieve for him," his mother Charlotte Charles added. "We have nothing. No justice. We have nothing to put our minds at rest that she's even remorseful."

Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, wrote to the family expressing "profound sadness" at the death, according to Sky News.

The embassy said in a statement to the broadcaster: "We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in the tragic August 27 traffic accident involving a vehicle driven by the spouse of a US diplomat assigned to the United Kingdom."


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/1 ... atal-road/

If she is any sort of person she will return to the UK and present herself to face justice.

This is an appalling misuse of diplomatic privileges.

The UK government should press Washington on this issue but of course they won't.
#15039666
Political Interest wrote:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/05/us-diplomats-wife-claims-immunity-leaves-uk-afterfatal-road/

If she is any sort of person she will return to the UK and present herself to face justice.

This is an appalling misuse of diplomatic privileges.

The UK government should press Washington on this issue but of course they won't.


Unfortunately, "diplomatic immunity" is pretty much all encompassing. It sucks, yes, but it is what it is.

The worst part is that it was probably nothing more than a horrible accident, with no criminality to it whatsoever...
#15039687
BigSteve wrote:Unfortunately, "diplomatic immunity" is pretty much all encompassing. It sucks, yes, but it is what it is.

The worst part is that it was probably nothing more than a horrible accident, with no criminality to it whatsoever...


Isn't hit and run a crime?
#15039690
Patrickov wrote:Isn't hit and run a crime?

Yes. Diplomats have diplomatic immunity. I think the only reason to waive it is if she was drunk or something. Otherwise, the United States should make amends to the family for wrongful death.
#15039748
BigSteve wrote:Unfortunately, "diplomatic immunity" is pretty much all encompassing. It sucks, yes, but it is what it is.

The worst part is that it was probably nothing more than a horrible accident, with no criminality to it whatsoever...


She broke the law in more ways than one.

Now a 19 year old man is dead and the parents have lost their child.

We know this woman will never answer for what she has done because the UK government are too busy sucking up to their American 'partners'.
#15039763
Atlantis wrote:Diplomatic immunity wasn't meant to cover up criminal activity.

If Russia were doing it, all hell would break loose.


This is very true. They want to call up all sorts of people from abroad for extradition but I'm sure very little will be said about this case.

It does make you wonder if some people are not actually acting in the interests of the people they govern. But we wouldn't dare say that would we? That would be most un-British.
#15039767
Political Interest wrote:It does make you wonder if some people are not actually acting in the interests of the people they govern. But we wouldn't dare say that would we? That would be most un-British.


Unless we reject it, we all have to serve the empire.

Going piggy-back on Yankee imperialism, makes you a hostage to its designs and complicit in its crimes.
#15039775
Political Interest wrote:This is very true. They want to call up all sorts of people from abroad for extradition but I'm sure very little will be said about this case.

It does make you wonder if some people are not actually acting in the interests of the people they govern. But we wouldn't dare say that would we? That would be most un-British.


Diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention (I believe it was from 1826) is quasi absolute.
It does not matter from which country the diplomat or his dependants came from. If they were recognised and accepted as diplomats by the host country, immunity is given.

We had this discussion some time back.
The Burmese Ambassador killed his wife in the ambassador's residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka and then burned her body in the garden. The neighbours heard and saw everything and called the police but the Ambassador claimed his immunity and the police could not even enter the residence. The Ambassador returned to his home country unhindered.
#15039793
Ter wrote:We had this discussion some time back.

The Burmese Ambassador killed his wife in the ambassador's residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka and then burned her body in the garden. The neighbours heard and saw everything and called the police but the Ambassador claimed his immunity and the police could not even enter the residence. The Ambassador returned to his home country unhindered.


Frankly, in this case, Burma should have jurisdiction over their ambassadors' residence, authorised Sri Lanka to have the murderer arrested, and asked Sri Lanka to extradite the murderer for trial. If Sri Lanka did not notify Burma, or Burma did not ask Sri Lanka to arrest the guy, then I am afraid either or both governments were not doing their job.
#15039798
Patrickov wrote:Frankly, in this case, Burma should have jurisdiction over their ambassadors' residence, authorised Sri Lanka to have the murderer arrested, and asked Sri Lanka to extradite the murderer for trial. If Sri Lanka did not notify Burma, or Burma did not ask Sri Lanka to arrest the guy, then I am afraid either or both governments were not doing their job.


The whole story is available in detail on:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/171022/plus/r ... 64799.html

The Burmese Government refused to revoke the Ambassador's immunity.
(and the wife was killed for allegedly having an extra-marital affair)
#15039891
Patrickov wrote:Isn't hit and run a crime?


Yes, it is.

I should've been more clear. Had she not taken off, and stopped instead, there probably wouldn't have been any criminality to it...
#15039906
Ter wrote:The whole story is available in detail on:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/171022/plus/r ... 64799.html

The Burmese Government refused to revoke the Ambassador's immunity.
(and the wife was killed for allegedly having an extra-marital affair)

So this happened in 1967.

Google searches talk of an event in 1979 involving a Burmese diplomat in Sri Lanka shooting his wife (and then burning her body in his garden).

There's no names given.

So it happened twice? Or they are conflating? Any idea on that?
#15039946
BigSteve wrote:Yes, it is.

I should've been more clear. Had she not taken off, and stopped instead, there probably wouldn't have been any criminality to it...

There's no criminality to each individual collision causing death.

40,000 Americans are killed this way each year, and it's totally legal. Another 400,000 Americans are premanently damaged, put into wheelchairs, paraplegic, etc. because of car collisions, but no one has done anything wrong.

Except the entire society.
#15039964
QatzelOk wrote:There's no criminality to each individual collision causing death.

40,000 Americans are killed this way each year, and it's totally legal. Another 400,000 Americans are premanently damaged, put into wheelchairs, paraplegic, etc. because of car collisions, but no one has done anything wrong.

Except the entire society.


Alrighty, then...
#15039975
Crantag wrote:There's no names given.

The article I cited has all the names (and pictures) in it.
Of course this incident happened only once, I don't know what you have been looking at.
I only mentioned this thing to demonstrate that diplomatic immunity is very far-reaching.
These days, diplomats merely refuse to pay parking tickets in New York.
#15040000
Owen Bowcott (and agency) wrote:Police chiefs ask US to waive immunity for envoy's wife in crash

Police chiefs have written to the US embassy in London to demand immunity is waived for an American diplomat’s wife who is a suspect in relation to a fatal road crash.

Nick Adderley, chief constable for Northamptonshire police, said US authorities had been appealed to in “the strongest terms” to apply a waiver and “allow the justice process to take place”.

His force is leading investigations into a collision that killed Harry Dunn, 19, of Charlton, Banbury, on 27 August.

Police said the teenager died after his motorbike collided with a car close to RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, a military base used by the US Air Force.

A 42-year-old woman being treated as a suspect in relation to the crash has left the UK, despite telling officers she did not plan to do so.

Responding to a question on Twitter on Sunday, Adderley confirmed that he and Stephen Mold, police fire and crime commissioner for Northamptonshire, had contacted the embassy asking for immunity to be waived.

Meanwhile Dunn’s mother has spoken out about how she felt “all hope had gone” when she learned the woman suspected of killing him had fled abroad.

Charlotte Charles criticised the US embassy for maintaining her diplomatic immunity status. The Foreign Office has sent repeated requests to the embassy in London seeking a formal waiver of the woman’s immunity but US officials have declined to cooperate.

Speaking to ITV News, Charles said the diplomat’s departure – despite earlier promises that she had no plans to leave – “was like all hope had gone”.

She added: “It was literally a living nightmare. We were desperate to wake up in the morning and hope to God that it wasn’t true.

“We’re not going to be swept under the carpet,” she added. “Harry always fought for what he believed in … we’re going to carry on that.”

Tim Dunn, Harry’s father, said it felt as if his “heart had dropped out” when he learned, a week after his son’s funeral, that the woman who was suspected of involvement in the crash had left the country

Both parents are due to meet the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in the coming days.

Raab has offered his condolences to the family and said: “I have called the US ambassador to express the UK’s disappointment with their decision, and to urge the embassy to re-consider it.”

A spokesperson for the US embassy has said: “We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in this tragic traffic accident.

“Any questions regarding a waiver of the immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry; immunity is rarely waived.”

Sarah Johnson, head of operations for Northamptonshire police, said: “We can confirm that a 42-year-old American woman being treated as a suspect in our investigation into a fatal road traffic collision on the B4031 Park End, Croughton, on Tuesday, 27 August, has left the country.

“Northamptonshire police followed all of its usual procedures following the incident, including liaising closely with the suspect, who engaged fully with us at the time and had previously confirmed to us that she had no plans to leave the country in the near future.”

The Guardian



Regardless of the results, the British Police personnel who are engaged in this event have my utmost respect.
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