UK sends extradition request of American diplomats' wife involved in deadly crash

The United Kingdom has sent to the United States an extradition request of Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American diplomat involved in a crash that killed a 19-year old teenager.

Harry Dunn was riding a motorcycle in August last year outside a military base in Central England used by The US Air Force and died in a crash.

Sacoolas was charged in December with causing Dunn's death by dangerous driving.

"I hope that Anne Sacoolas will now realise the right thing to do is to come back to the UK and cooperate with the criminal justice process", UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity and left the country in the aftermath of the incident.

The US State Department on Friday called the UK request for extradition "highly inappropriate."

In a statement, a State Department spokesperson said, "the use of an extradition treaty to attempt to return the spouse of a former diplomat by force would establish an extraordinarily troubling precedent."

The final decision on extradition is made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.