Latvia Extradites 23-Year-Old Dolars Aleksanders Over Keaton Slater's 2024 Death

Q: Two years after Keaton Slater's tragic death, will the complex international extradition process finally deliver the justice his grieving family seeks?

Yes — the extradition has cleared the biggest obstacle to bringing the case before a UK court, but justice for Keaton Slater’s family will depend on what happens next in the criminal process. After a long cross-border effort, 23-year-old Dolars Aleksanders, a Latvian national, has been returned from Latvia, charged with causing death by dangerous driving, and is due before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court. That is a major step because, until his return, prosecutors could not move the case forward in a British court. The CPS said there was sufficient evidence to charge, and the case involved coordinated work by West Midlands Police, the Home Office, Latvian authorities, Europol, the Joint International Crime Centre, CPS International and the Extradition Unit. The case stems from the death of 12-year-old Keaton, who was struck by a black BMW on Radford Road in Coventry on 14 June 2024 while walking home from school. Police had publicly identified Aleksanders as a person of interest soon after the crash and believed he had gone to Latvia. For Keaton’s family, the extradition does not itself deliver justice, but it finally opens the door to it. The court process must now test the evidence, and Aleksanders is entitled to a fair hearing. A charge is not a conviction. What can be said now is that the two-year wait for accountability has produced concrete legal action. Whether that becomes the justice his family seeks will be decided by the courts, not by the extradition alone.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 6

West Midlands Police charged Dolars Aleksanders with causing death by dangerous driving after extraditing him from Latvia over the 2024 hit-and-run that killed 12-year-old Keaton Slater.
Aleksanders, 23, was detained in Latvia last month, flown into Gatwick on Wednesday and taken to a West Midlands custody block ahead of a Birmingham Magistrates Court appearance on Thursday.
Keaton was struck by a black BMW in Coventry on 14 June 2024 while walking home from school, and died after the collision.
Police had sought Aleksanders' extradition since naming him a person of interest shortly after the crash, with the CPS saying British, Latvian and international agencies worked together to return him to the UK.

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bbc.co.uk14d ago

Dolars Aleksanders Extradited, Charged in Keaton Slater Hit-and-Run Death

BBC.com14d ago

Keaton Slater: Man extradited to UK and charged over alleged hit-and-run death

Birmingham Live15d ago

Man charged over death of 12-year-old Keaton Slater after Latvia extradition - Birmingham Live

5 Sources

Two years after Keaton Slater's tragic death, will the complex international extradition process finally deliver the justice his grieving family seeks?

How did a dangerous driver manage to flee the UK after a fatal hit-and-run before international agencies finally tracked him down?