Driver who killed Harry Dunn 'may have been on phone'

Driver who killed Harry Dunn ‘may have been on phone’: Fugitive American motorist Anne Sacoolas could have been using her mobile at the time of horror crash, lawyers claim

  • Alleged Anne Sacoolas made evasive and inconsistent answers about her phone
  • Lawyers say there is ‘possibility she was distracted by her mobile telephone’ 
  • The claims were made in a lawsuit for damages filed in Virginia against fugitive 

The fugitive American driver who killed teenage biker Harry Dunn may have been on her phone at the time of the fatal crash, lawyers claimed last night.

Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a CIA officer, has made ‘evasive’ and ‘inconsistent’ answers about her phone and its data, US court papers allege.

Lawyers for Mr Dunn’s family state that documents Mrs Sacoolas has handed over ‘raise the possibility that [she] was distracted by her mobile telephone’.

They say she told them she lost its SIM card, then found it hours after they sent a letter asking about it. 

Lawyers for Harry Dunn¿s family state that documents Anne Sacoolas (pictured) has handed over ¿raise the possibility that [she] was distracted by her mobile telephone¿

Lawyers for Harry Dunn’s family state that documents Anne Sacoolas (pictured) has handed over ‘raise the possibility that [she] was distracted by her mobile telephone’

Sacollas was driving on the wrong side of the road when she crashed head-on into Mr Dunn, 19, near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019

Sacollas was driving on the wrong side of the road when she crashed head-on into Mr Dunn, 19, near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019

Floral tributes by the road near RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, where he was killed in a head-on collision

Floral tributes by the road near RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire, where he was killed in a head-on collision

The claims were made in a lawsuit for damages filed in Virginia as Mrs Sacoolas, 43, has refused to return to the UK to face justice. 

She was driving on the wrong side of the road when she crashed head-on into Mr Dunn, 19, near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August 2019.

Her husband Jonathan was reportedly working for US intelligence. She claimed diplomatic immunity and fled the country.

According to documents filed in the federal court by lawyers Levy Firestone Muse, Mrs Sacoolas’s statements ‘raise concerns that relevant data has been deleted’.

They say that they have tried to clarify whether Mrs Sacoolas was on her phone but her answers ‘only raise more questions about not only her conduct prior to the collision, but also the whereabouts of her phone data’.

The documents state that Mrs Sacoolas first claimed she had disposed of the SIM card and that she had ‘no data on the phone from August 2019’.

Her husband Jonathan said he had discarded his phone as well. Three weeks later, however, both Mr and Mrs Sacoolas told the Dunn family’s lawyers that they had found the SIM cards. Neither offered any explanation.

The filing claims that Mr and Mrs Sacoolas hired an analyst to inspect their phones. He located only one text – which has not been handed to the Dunn family – from the day of the crash.

But the lawyers are suspicious of his findings because Mr Sacoolas has admitted calling his wife shortly before the accident, a call the analyst found no record of.

Without a settlement, the case could go to trial, where it is likely Mr and Mrs Sacoolas would be called to give evidence

Without a settlement, the case could go to trial, where it is likely Mr and Mrs Sacoolas would be called to give evidence

The document says the analyst ‘did find call records on the phone from both the day before the accident and the day after the accident’.

It asks: ‘What happened to the missing data and is other data missing from the day of the accident?

‘Mrs Sacoolas has not denied deleting data from her phone and has not explained how the data was deleted.’

She took her phone with her when she fled to the US, depriving investigators of the opportunity to see if she was checking the weather, reading a text, on a call or otherwise distracted while driving, the Dunn family’s lawyers say.

Without a settlement, the case could go to trial, where it is likely Mr and Mrs Sacoolas would be called to give evidence – including on whether, as some reports claim, Mrs Sacoolas works for US intelligence.

Mrs Sacoolas’s lawyer, John McGavin, did not respond to a request for comment.

source: dailymail.co.uk