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British prosecutors had requested the extradition of Anne
Sacoolas over the crash last August in which 19-year-old Briton
Harry Dunn was killed while riding his motorbike.
But the State Department said on Thursday that Sacoolas had
"immunity from criminal jurisdiction" and that to extradite her
would set a precedent.
"If the United States were to grant the UK’s extradition
request, it would render the invocation of diplomatic immunity a
practical nullity and would set an extraordinarily troubling
precedent," the State Department said.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the U.S.
ambassador in London to express British disappointment.
"We feel this amounts to a denial of justice, and we believe
Anne Sacoolas should return to the UK," Raab said. "The UK would
have acted differently if this had been a UK diplomat serving in
the U.S. ...
"We are now urgently considering our options."
Dunn's family have said Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side
of the road at the time of the crash, near an air force base in
central England used by the U.S. military.
Sacoolas was given diplomatic immunity and left Britain shortly
after the accident. Her lawyer has said that she will not return
voluntarily to Britain possibly to face jail for "a terrible but
unintentional accident".
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Sacoolas was wrong
to use diplomatic immunity to leave Britain and has urged U.S.
President Donald Trump to reconsider the U.S. position.
Dunn's parents met Trump at the White House in October. Trump
hoped to persuade them meet to Sacoolas, who was in the building
at the same time, but they declined.
(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Elizabeth Howcroft in
London; Editing by Mohammad Zargham, Simon Cameron-Moore and Guy
Faulconbridge)
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