At 10.20pm on Dec 10, 2020, Caroline ordered an Uber, a Toyota Prius, in south London. About five minutes into her journey it was struck by an Audi Q7 SUV driven by Berouain. According to extradition papers lodged at the North Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles, a police investigator who attended and examined the scene of the collision at the junction of Niton Street and Fulham Palace Road calculated Berouain’s car was travelling at a speed of “between 63 and 66 miles per hour” in a 30mph zone. Prior to the collision, 12 CCTV cameras in the area filmed the Audi accelerating “quickly” through an intersection and then “use a bus lane” to pass a number of vehicles. The crash investigator later determined that a car travelling at 63mph would require “68 metres to stop”. He also calculated that a car driven at 30mph could stop within 15 metres, thus avoiding the collision.
The court documents further reveal that a police officer who spoke to Berouain at the scene “observed a strong smell of cannabis coming from Berouain’s person”. Another officer described his behaviour as “erratic”. Berouain was arrested when he refused to undergo a roadside breath test.
Caroline died from her injuries just over two hours after the accident. Berouain was detained at Hammersmith Police Station and at 4.30am was asked to provide blood and urine samples. He refused and when interviewed by police claimed he was driving at 20-30mph and could not avoid the Uber.
He was let go that night on police bail and subsequently released under investigation. A few weeks later on Jan 28, 2021 court records show that he left the country from Heathrow Airport and subsequently flew to the United States. This was only discovered by police seven months later when an officer visited his address in London to serve charge papers for failing to provide a specimen.
Aware that he was now in the United States, Metropolitan Police officers contacted colleagues in Los Angeles. On July 5, 2023 United States Marshals, liaising with police officers in London, tracked him down to an address in Los Angeles using driving licence application details he had submitted when moving to California. He was not at the address and the landlord said he had not paid rent for a year but provided investigators with his mobile phone number. Berouain was arrested on July 20 and extradition proceedings began immediately. He was detained and extradition granted in September of last year.
As Berouain’s extradition proceedings went through the US courts, Atkinson impressed playing in the Hundred, reaching bowling speeds of 95mph to be named in England’s white-ball squads last summer, making his international debut in an ODI against New Zealand. He was later named in the World Cup squad and for the Test tour to India.
Berouain appeared at Southwark Crown Court and pleaded guilty to two charges on June 14. Six weeks later on July 26 – the first day of the third Test against West Indies at Edgbaston – he was sentenced to eight and a half years for causing death by dangerous driving and the concurrent sentence of three years for causing serious injury. He was disqualified for driving for three years with an “uplift” of four years, three months, to cover the time he will spend in custody, making a total of seven years and three months from the date of sentence. He will also be subject to an extended retest if he seeks to reapply for a driving licence.
Berouain was described in court documents as a “working actor” and his agent said he “has featured in various roles on TV and film and everyone always speaks very highly of his attitude, positive personality and work ethic.”
