Family Of British Teen Killed In Crash Agrees To Settle Lawsuit Against NoVA Woman

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — The family of British teenager killed in a crash more two years ago has reached an agreement with a Northern Virginia woman who was charged in his 2019 death, according to a federal court order in Virginia.

The family of Harry Dunn, 19, who was struck and killed on his motorcycle by Anne Sacoolas, a U.S. intelligence agency employee, filed a lawsuit in September 2020 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. In the complaint, the family requested a trial by jury in the case.

Sacoolas, who was driving on the wrong side of the road, crashed head-on into Dunn's motorcycle in August 2019 near RAF Croughton, a military base in England known to be used by the Central Intelligence Agency.

But last month, the federal judge in the case questioned the family’s reluctance to settle the lawsuit it brought against Sacoolas.

At a court hearing on Aug. 13, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III asked why the Dunn family wanted the case to continue moving forward instead of agreeing to a settlement with Sacoolas.

Ellis said civil litigation is limited in what it can accomplish. "This is a terrible tragedy, but nothing we do in this courtroom is going to bring back that young man," he said. "A wrongful death case is not an opportunity for revenge."

In his order issued Tuesday, Ellis said that the parties “have reached an agreement to resolve this matter.”

Lawyers for the Dunn family and Sacoolas are expected to file a joint stipulation of dismissal of the lawsuit within 30 days of Ellis' Sept. 21 order.

During the civil proceeding, the U.S. government wanted to keep secret the employment details of Sacoolas. Lawyers for the U.S. government filed a motion in the U.S. District Court, arguing that the details of Sacoolas' employment should not be released in the interests of "national security."

British prosecutors announced in December 2019 that Sacoolas would be charged with causing death by dangerous driving and that it was starting extradition proceedings against her. But in January 2020, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused the extradition request.

With the U.S. government’s refusal to extradite Sacoolas to the United Kingdom to face prosecution, Dunn's parents brought the civil lawsuit against the U.S. intelligence employee in Virginia.

"It has therefore come as some considerable relief to them that a resolution to the civil claim has been now been reached successfully between the parties and they can put this part of the campaign behind them,” family spokesman Radd Seiger told CNN on Tuesday.

Seiger did not disclose the details of the agreement.

The spokesman did tell The Independent that the family is “very confident the criminal case is going to be brought soon” in Britain after both parties “successfully” reached an agreement.

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