Motorcycle accident report in the U.K. heads to the UN

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As is too often the case, the only time motorcycling gets treated to front-page headlines in the mainstream media is when someone dies in a collision. That was certainly the case with Harry Dunn, 19, who was killed In England in a collision with a motorist driving on the wrong side of the road.

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What is different is that Dunn’s case is now being discussed at the highest echelons of government. In fact, no less than the U.K.’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is bringing the case to attention of the U.S. Secretary of State prior to a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly .

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Motorcycle accident report in the U.K. heads to the UN Back to video

It all started simply — if tragically — enough. Dunn was riding near RAF Croughton when his was struck by a car driven by an American, Anne Sacoolas, on the wrong side of the road. Straightforward enough, one would think.

Where all the contention arises is that Sacoolas is the wife of an American diplomat and, when the police showed up for subsequent questioning regarding the incident — she was breathalyzed at the scene of the accident and subsequently released — she claimed diplomatic immunity.

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The British police then requested that both she and her husband to remain in England pending the inquest, and also that the American government waive immunity in this case. Things then ramped up when the American embassy decided it would not waive immunity. The British foreign secretary at the time, Dominic Rabb, objected in “strong and clear terms.” The end result is that the Sacoolas family left England, not on a commercial flight, but instead scurried away on a U.S. Air Force jet.

Since then, no less then Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and even Donald Trump have intervened in the Dunn case, this last in his usual ham-handed, bullying manner. It seems The Donald invited the Dunn family to the White House and then, without warning, surprised them with the fact that he had Ms. Scoolas in the next room ready to meet with them. When the offer was refused — because the Dunns have long insisted that Sacoolas must return to England for an official investigation — the president returned to form, according The Guardian, claiming that the then American secretary of the treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was “standing by ready to write a check. ”

Since then, the case — and the consequences it might have for diplomatic immunity — have been discussed in the British House of Commons because Anne Sacoolas turned out to be a CIA agent and that administrators and technical staff are not covered by the U.S./U.K. immunity agreement. The Dunns then filed civil action in a Virginia court, which was resolved earlier this month (though no details were released). According to the New York Times , however, the criminal case is still going forward, which is why such a seemingly common motorcycle accident is being raised at a UN meeting.