Sky News tracks down US driver who fled UK after crash left nurse unable to walk

Sky News has tracked down the American driver who fled the UK after a “devastating” crash that left a British nurse unable to walk.

Issac Calderon, 22, who is wanted by West Mercia Police, is now back living with his parents in his hometown in Texas.

The nurse, Elizabeth Donowho, who broke both ankles in the crash, told Sky News she was pleased Calderon had been located but felt sickened by the situation.

Ms Donowho revealed on Monday that she’d been told by UK police officers that Calderon was connected to the US intelligence services.

A Sky News team has now spoken to Calderon’s father, Manuel, at the family’s detached house in a residential street in Humble, Texas.

He confirmed his son is now back at home and claimed the situation has been “blown out of proportion”.

His son had been described as a “fugitive” with the case likened to that of Anne Sacoolas, the US spy who left the UK after killing teenager Harry Dunn in a crash in Northamptonshire in 2019.

Mr Calderon insisted his son had been in the UK on a work visa and had recently been employed in a warehouse but he couldn’t recall the name of the company.

He said he’d paid for his son to fly home in November because he was “struggling to support himself” and to enable him to seek further medical treatment following the collision.

It was just days before a court hearing in Kidderminster where he had been expected to appear having been charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

A warrant for his arrest was then issued.

West Mercia Police said they’d been working to reach him “both directly and through formal channels” and they were preparing paperwork should they need to request the extradition of the American.

Both the US and the UK authorities have refused to disclose what Calderon was doing in the UK.

Ms Donowho said she was also told by police that he was visiting the SAS base in Herefordshire which is nine miles from the crash site.

Manuel Calderon told Sky News his son is part of the American National Guard and said he serves “a few weeks a year”.

Guard soldiers typically hold civilian jobs while maintaining their military training part time.

The US Embassy in London had previously told Sky News that Calderon was a “US citizen”.

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Manuel Calderon said they had not heard from either the US or the UK authorities recently, and his son would not be able to discuss the case further because he was now seeking legal advice.

Ms Donowho said: “I feel sick. I’m obviously pleased that Mr Calderon has been found. However I am confused as to why I am learning this news from the media rather than the authorities.

“All I want is for him to face our justice system as soon as possible and an explanation as to how he was able to leave in the first place.”

Ms Donowho’s spokesperson, Radd Seiger, who helped the family of Harry Dunn in the wake of the Sacoolas case said: “I’m grateful to Sky News.

“It is a massive step forward that the defendant has now been located which is a relief to us all. He must now either come back voluntarily or be brought back to the UK without delay.

“Elizabeth has suffered enough and I would appeal to Mr Calderon and both the UK and US authorities to put Elizabeth’s interests as a victim of a near fatal crash first here and now get on and do the right thing.

“Mr Calderon is innocent until proven otherwise but is a fugitive on the run. He should not have fled and it is in his interests more than anyone else’s to come back to face the charges against him.

“We have one of the fairest legal systems in the world and he is entitled to and will get a fair trial when he is back.”