Trump meets with parents of British teen killed in crash

U.S. President Donald Trump met Tuesday with the parents of a British teenager who was killed in a car crash involving an American diplomat's wife.

The White House declined to say what message the president had delivered, but a spokesman for the family suggested they may have been disappointed by it.

Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn speaks at a news conference as she is joined by husband Bruce Charles, left, stepfather of Dunn, Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, in New York. [Photo: AP/Craig Ruttle]

"Meeting with President Trump complete," tweeted the spokesman, Radd Seiger. "We will review where we are up to and determine next steps shortly when we will comment further. In the meantime the search for #Justice4Harry continues."

Harry Dunn, 19, was killed in August when his motorcycle collided with a car allegedly driven by Anne Sacoolas, the U.S. diplomat's wife, outside a British air force base in southern England used by the U.S. military.

Claiming diplomatic immunity, Sacoolas left Britain shortly after, though police released a statement saying she had previously told them she had no plans to depart. Her current whereabouts are uncertain.

Dunn's parents have been pressing for Sacoolas to return to Britain and held a press conference in New York on Monday to press their case. Charlotte Charles, Dunn's mother, tearfully urged her to "do the right thing" and to "face us as a broken family," along with the U.K. legal system.

"She needs to set an example to her own children that you can't run away," Charles said.

Sacoolas has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing but her claim of immunity and return to the US have provoked an uproar in Britain.

UK Prime Minister Johnson has said Sacoolas should return to Britain, saying, "I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose."

But a Washington Post photograph of briefing notes held by Trump in an October 9 news event indicated that "the spouse of the U.S. Government employee will not return to the United Kingdom."

Trump last week called the collision "a terrible accident" and said he planned to intervene by potentially arranging a meeting between the Dunns and Sacoolas.

Still, he seemed sympathetic to Sacoolas, saying that accidentally driving on the wrong side of the road in England, where drivers drive on the left instead of the right side of the street, is something that "can happen," and that he had once done so himself.

A statement previously released on Sacoolas' behalf said she intended to continue to cooperate with authorities.

"Anne is devastated by this tragic accident. No loss compares to the death of a child and Anne extends her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn's family," it read.

(Story includes material sourced from AP, AFP.)