Murder, Manslaughter, or just a plain old Accident?

[DaGip]

Sprint car driver Tony Stewart hits Kevin Ward, Jr.

Stewart caused Ward to crash into the wall, wrecking his sprint car. Ward got out of his car to visibly make his complaint to Tony Stewart as he made a second pass. Tony Stewart then hit the gas and fish tailed into Kevin Ward, battering his body and rolling him twenty feet. Ward went to the hospital and later died.

Should Tony Stewart be punished?

Warning: Graphic Video

[mrswdk]

In the video we can see a guy run into the path of oncoming race cars, get narrowly missed by one and then venture even further into the middle of the track before being hit by another. It looks to me like the collision was caused entirely by the pedestrian.

[Serbia]

I cannot tell beyond doubt that Stewart intended to hit Ward. For his part, Ward should not have charged out onto the track. He was looking for a confrontation. Unfortunately for him, he got his confrontation, and it resulted in his death. Was Stewart responsible? I don't know. Did Stewart know Ward was walking on the track? Did he intentionally swerve at him? We do see his car seem to move in Ward's direction, but was that after the impact? I don't know.

Ultimately this needs to be investigated further. But let's not forget that had Ward not run out onto the track in the first place, he'd be alive still. He does, sadly, bear some responsibility.

Bollocks.

[degaston]

[ ] Murder
[ ] Manslaughter
[ ] Accident
[X] Suicide

[oVo]

Stand on the highway with cars averaging 60 mpg
and ponder your reaction time. Now consider a
sprint car at three times that speed.

Kevin Ward's poor judgement and tragic end.

[DaGip]

Does anyone know the rules for sprint car racing? When there is an accident, aren't you supposed to slow down and form poll positions or something? People get out of their cars in racing all the time, either because they have to (cars on fire) or because they are pissed. Also, emergency workers need to exit their vehicles to work in moving traffic (both in racing and in society in general). Nothing gives a driver the right to Gun the Engine and speed up and hit a person with his right front wheel, turn into them to build momentum, and then swerve sharply to the left to toss the body off your car (meanwhile crumpling their body with the left hand side of your car and rear wheels).

I don't think Ward wanted to die, and I don't think Stewart wanted to kill him; but Stewart did gun the engine and swerved into Ward. That shows intent. If charges are pressed, I wouldn't be surprised if the prosecution goes for Second Degree Murder and offers a plea for Voluntary Manslaughter.

[mrswdk]

Looks to me like the swerve happened as a result of the collision, which it would if the rear end of a fairly small car collided with a grown man while that car was speeding round a corner.

But yes you are correct, nothing gives anyone the right to throw their car door open as they pass a kind-hearted husband and father, knocking him to the ground before reversing and wheel spinning on his head while fist pumping out the window.

[KoolBak]

Damn tragedy....Ward should NOT have jumped in front of an 800 horsepower freaking car ;o( Even with all the attempts at safety, people still die in racing.

[patches70]

The incident while being reviewed by authorities, is being treated as a race track accident. Stewart will very likely not be charged with anything.

Kevin Ward's nomination for this year's Darwin Award is now pending.

As to the OP's question- Should Tony Stewart be punished?

I think Stewart is probably punishing himself plenty. Not that this is much consolation to Ward's family, but they can seek redress for this in civil court when the time comes and if they wish. So no, Stewart shouldn't be punished for this in terms of criminality.

[DaGip]

auto racing...is there any other sport in which one can get away with murder?

[Army of GOD]

I find it unlikey that Stewart hit him intentionally. Then again, the guy was stupid enough to leave his car during a race, so maybe Stewart is dumb enough to want to hit him.

Also, am I the only one who finds this racing shit extremely sketchy? Fucking rednecks.

[DaGip]

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Tony-Stewart- ... 55991.html

As expected, no racing today for Stewart. The incident is still under investigation by authorities.

[BigBallinStalin]

In the video we can see a guy run into the path of oncoming race cars, get narrowly missed by one and then venture even further into the middle of the track before being hit by another. It looks to me like the collision was caused entirely by the pedestrian.

Did ya see the part where the car swerves INTO him?

[BigBallinStalin]

Looks like murder (or whatever it is when someone hits someone really hard but didn't intend on killing them). Reduce the sentence because the victim could've avoided the incident to some degree.

[mrswdk]

lol, classic. 'Everyone else thinks it was an accident. I guess I'd best argue that it was murder!'

[danfrank666]

In defense of tony , the kid pratically jumped in his way , evidence of that is seen in his attempt to get out of the way of the blue car in front of tony. Whether the kid slipped on the track or just leaned in to far , its an accident. He wanted to be known as the one who stood up to smoke. AND INSTEAD HE GOT SMOKED

[DaGip]

Looks like murder (or whatever it is when someone hits someone really hard but didn't intend on killing them). Reduce the sentence because the victim could've avoided the incident to some degree.

The prosecution would look to see if there was intent...swerving and gunning your engine was intent. If they run with that, Second Degree Murder would be what they seek; but as you said, they will reduce it at plea to either Voluntary or Involuntary Manslaughter...but beings Stewart knows that gunning your engine and swerving at a pedestrian could cause harm or death; it looks like the only possible plea he would have would be Voluntary Manslaughter.

[danfrank666]

Looks like murder (or whatever it is when someone hits someone really hard but didn't intend on killing them). Reduce the sentence because the victim could've avoided the incident to some degree.

The prosecution would look to see if there was intent...swerving and gunning your engine was intent. If they run with that, Second Degree Murder would be what they seek; but as you said, they will reduce it at plea to either Voluntary or Involuntary Manslaughter...but beings Stewart knows that gunning your engine and swerving at a pedestrian could cause harm or death; it looks like the only possible plea he would have would be Voluntary Manslaughter.

Intent ? Swerving and gunning your engine is a normal ACT on a racetrack. To suggest he intentionally wanted to inflict harm upon no personal responsibility would mean that you could read his mind. And you call him a pedestrian There are now pedestrians involved in automobile racing .


Another thing , do your research on this and tell me what position tony is seated in. And why its relevant ?

[BigBallinStalin]

lol, classic. 'Everyone else thinks it was an accident. I guess I'd best argue that it was murder!'

You know how I be!

(But in this case, I only saw the video, and it looked like he intentionally killed him. I was pretty surprised at everyone's conclusion. The first instance could've been an accident, but I'm not sure because I don't know how 'sprint-cars' work. The second instance had Idiot running into the track, but the first car didn't have trouble avoiding him. Idiot points out the Guy who damaged his car, and Guy swerves to the right and hits the Idiot. Guy didn't have to do that; the track didn't seem to demand such maneuvering. Why would Guy swerve to the right all of the sudden? (Because he wanted to f*ck up Idiot).

[patches70]

In the video we can see a guy run into the path of oncoming race cars, get narrowly missed by one and then venture even further into the middle of the track before being hit by another. It looks to me like the collision was caused entirely by the pedestrian.

Did ya see the part where the car swerves INTO him?

Really BBS? You can actually determine that as fact by that little bit of video?

I saw the camera focused on the guy, then a blue car narrowly misses him, the camera pans left following the blue car, then comes back quick just in time to see Stewart's red car hitting the guy. It looked like the car was sliding to me, which is pretty normal considering those sprint cars fishtail around curves. And they are on a curve, the guy isn't far from his wrecked car which wrecked in the curve.

I dunno man, I'm not sure you can say with any certainty that Stewart swerved into the guy on purpose. Physics trumps perception. Maybe if we had some video of Stewart further away, see what he and his car were doing besides the instant the car strikes the guy, one may be able to glean some better information.

The video in the OP, doesn't prove a thing except the guy was in the middle of the track, pissed off and not acting rationally and then (predictably) gets hit by a car. The guy probably wanted Stewart to stop so he could kick his ass and Ward thought that by standing in the path of Stewart's car would be enough to stop the car. Reality tells us that simply standing in front of a car won't stop it, brakes do, and brakes don't stop on a dime. Especially on tracks like that.
There is just not enough information in that video to determine Stewart murdered the guy. The very same problem a prosecutor is going to have, proving either murder or even manslaughter. It appears to be an accident with a major contributing factor the negligence of the driver Ward for striding into the middle of a race track with multiple vehicles rolling along.


Maybe you should have some better evidence than "It looks like murder to me!" Cause it doesn't look like murder to me. Apparently I'm not alone. Do you think courts work like that, BBS? "BBS says it looks like murder, others say it looks like an accident, I guess we'll just go with what BBS thinks, then. Guilty!"

Inconclusive video is inconclusive. More than enough reasonable doubt to make prosecution for murder or manslaughter a wasted effort. Get some better evidence, BBS.

[danfrank666]

Was it swerving to the right , or is the car set up to apply the torque from the motor to the left tire ?

[nietzsche]

Those cars look ridiculous.

You'd think that someone who drives one of those wouldn't be so pissed about a crash and risk his life for it.

[BigBallinStalin]

In the video we can see a guy run into the path of oncoming race cars, get narrowly missed by one and then venture even further into the middle of the track before being hit by another. It looks to me like the collision was caused entirely by the pedestrian.

Did ya see the part where the car swerves INTO him?

Really BBS? You can actually determine that as fact by that little bit of video?

I saw the camera focused on the guy, then a blue car narrowly misses him, the camera pans left following the blue car, then comes back quick just in time to see Stewart's red car hitting the guy. It looked like the car was sliding to me, which is pretty normal considering those sprint cars fishtail around curves. And they are on a curve, the guy isn't far from his wrecked car which wrecked in the curve.

I dunno man, I'm not sure you can say with any certainty that Stewart swerved into the guy on purpose. Physics trumps perception. Maybe if we had some video of Stewart further away, see what he and his car were doing besides the instant the car strikes the guy, one may be able to glean some better information.

The video in the OP, doesn't prove a thing except the guy was in the middle of the track, pissed off and not acting rationally and then (predictably) gets hit by a car. The guy probably wanted Stewart to stop so he could kick his ass and Ward thought that by standing in the path of Stewart's car would be enough to stop the car. Reality tells us that simply standing in front of a car won't stop it, brakes do, and brakes don't stop on a dime. Especially on tracks like that.
There is just not enough information in that video to determine Stewart murdered the guy. The very same problem a prosecutor is going to have, proving either murder or even manslaughter. It appears to be an accident with a major contributing factor the negligence of the driver Ward for striding into the middle of a race track with multiple vehicles rolling along.


Maybe you should have some better evidence than "It looks like murder to me!" Cause it doesn't look like murder to me. Apparently I'm not alone. Do you think courts work like that, BBS? "BBS says it looks like murder, others say it looks like an accident, I guess we'll just go with what BBS thinks, then. Guilty!"

Inconclusive video is inconclusive. More than enough reasonable doubt to make prosecution for murder or manslaughter a wasted effort. Get some better evidence, BBS.

Yeah, I saw it again, and it's hard to tell. But it's not like he hit his brakes or anything.

Also, what I love about your posts is that I only have to read the first paragraph, skip the rest, and still get the same message.

[patches70]

Those cars look ridiculous.

You'd think that someone who drives one of those wouldn't be so pissed about a crash and risk his life for it.

Those cars crash all the time, it's why those races are so fun. A freaking dirt track with no traction and those funny little cars go rolling through the curves sideways and wreck all the time. It's kind of awesome in a way. I can see the appeal. I'm not much of a racing fan, but I can understand why some people like it.

[patches70]

Yeah, I saw it again, and it's hard to tell. But it's not like he hit his brakes or anything.

Hit his brakes? Ok, first off, now that you've watched it a second time, would you like to amend-

But in this case, I only saw the video, and it looked like he intentionally killed him.

Or are you going to double down on what you just admitted that it's hard to tell?

And then your "But it's not like he hit his brakes or anything".
Maybe you should remember another statement you made ITT-

I don't know how 'sprint-cars' work.

Yeah, BBS doubles down in 3...2....1....