Tony Stewart-Kevin Ward incident

It does end there. You intentionally walk into or near the path of speeding race cars --especially with the caveats of dark suit, dirt track, etc -- you assume full responsibility for what happens next.

 

The saddest part of this is that Kevin Ward Jr. is dead in part because he acted much like the guy who ran him over.

 

Bullshit. The "kid" is dead because of the kid's own actions. This happened because Ward lost his cool and behaved like a road raging buffoon stepping into the path of an oncoming race car, NOT because of the car moving toward him.

That's the ONLY cause we know is true. Everything else been tossed around on this thread is nothing but unfounded speculation. We don't even know if Stewart saw Ward with enough time to be able to avoid him and, given the circumstances, I think it's very possible he did not.

 

(Deleted to make Killick happy)

 

Exactly. Ward stayed high on the track, then stepped down gesturing when he saw Stewart coming around. At that point, one other car went past him on a lower line, but that car also was blocking Stewart's view of Ward being on the track until it went past Ward.

I am in no way a Tony Stewart fan, but I put at least 80% and probably even more of this on Ward. Wrecks like that happen in sprint-car, dirt-track racing every weekend of the summer. Getting out of the car in the dark of night at the end of the turn, wearing black and then stepping down the track ... all factors that were great contributors and all these factors are Ward's fault, not Stewart's.

 

If there is any proof Stewart did anything other than try to avoid Ward, it's manslaughter at the very least, no?

 

Jesus fucking Christ, no, it is not at all like that.

 

I'd be interested to learn what Ward's reputation was at that track, because his actions also were the actions of a true jerk.

 

Not really.

If I wander onto the interstate into the path of an oncoming car at night and get hit, no one is going to be charged with manslaughter because they "didn't try to avoid me.'' And on a race track normal rules of defensive driving (avoid accidents at all cost!!!) do not really apply. Only if Stewart's car veered into Ward's direction is a charge plausible, IMO. Just keeping your path and hitting someone that veers into said path isn't enough.

 

Exactly. Involuntarily manslaughter requires criminally negligent behavior that is the primary cause of another's death. But the primary cause of Ward's death is his own irrationally negligent behavior, I don't think that's something that any reasonable person could dispute. Absolutely no basis for criminal charges here.

 

The kid is dead because of the kid's actions much more than because of Tony Stewart's. Much like the crash looks to me to be more the kid's fault than Stewart's. The kid's car slides out of control, causing his front left wheel to dip down into Stewart's right rear.

I'm sorry the kid is dead, but I've re-watched this thing a lot of times and I place nearly all the blame on the kid's behavior. I also wonder if he acts gets out of his car and starts pointing if the accident was between him and just another joe schmoe that races there every week.

 

Well, glad that's all settled then.