Tony Stewart not charged by grand jury in death of Kevin Ward Jr.

[Yakuza Rich]

What's really clear, coming from someone who grew up at dirt tracks, is that you don't know much about racing.

There was no story here other than a hot head kid losing his temper and killing himself.

What's clear here is that you don't know much about how the law works.




YR

 

[Risen Star]

Doubt any of the haters will even look at the evidence or read the full report. They made up their mind off of a cell phone video and a NASCAR persona. Logic does not enter the equation.

On the simplistic know nothing viewpoint of "hey, the car swerved!"

I didn't read a single person with a background in racing who thought this incident was even worthy of an investigation.

 

[Risen Star]

What's clear here is that you don't know much about how the law works.




YR

I know the law isn't set to punish completely innocent people.

There's no crime here. If you think there is, you're wrong. It's really that simple.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I know the law isn't set to punish completely innocent people.

There's no crime here. If you think there is, you're wrong. It's really that simple.

You don't know the law.

Get over it.




YR

 

[joseephuss]

On the simplistic know nothing viewpoint of "hey, the car swerved!"

I didn't read a single person with a background in racing who thought this incident was even worthy of an investigation.

Of course it was worthy of an investigation. A person died. It is always worthy to discover what contributed to that result and determine if anything can be done to avoid the same type of result in the future.

 

[Risen Star]

You don't know the law.

Get over it.




YR

You can keep clinging to that hollow comment in an attempt to hide your lack of knowledge of racing and dirt track racing in particular.

There is no law that punishes innocent victims.

 

[Risen Star]

Of course it was worthy of an investigation. A person died. It is always worthy to discover what contributed to that result and determine if anything can be done to avoid the same type of result in the future.

Don't get out of your car and run in front of a race car. Investigation over.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Don't get out of your car and run in front of a race car. Investigation over.

Seems simple enough unless your emotions are out of control or your judgement is impared.

 

[Sarge]

Doubt any of the haters will even look at the evidence or read the full report. They made up their mind off of a cell phone video and a NASCAR persona. Logic does not enter the equation.

Yep.

 

[Future]

I happen to know someone who knew the kids father. He was also a race car driver here locally and apparently, he was a bigger "hothead" than his kid. At any rate, even if they do attempt a lawsuit, I doubt it will go too far In light of this latest news.

I heard the same thing, though more through the grapevine.

I don't think we will hear from too many of them. Some of them were probably smoking some weed as well.

It's not unheard of, at least not at that track. One of my buddies races there all the time and has said as much.

 

[joseephuss]

I heard the same thing, though more through the grapevine.

It's not unheard of, at least not at that track. One of my buddies races there all the time and has said as much.

I met some guys over 20 years ago that raced on small dirt tracks like this and I know they smoked out. I truly doubt it happens at the higher levels of racing, but it is quite possible at these lower level events. Probably only a small minority, but it only takes a couple.

 

[trickblue]

I've never seen marijuana possess anybody to get out of their car and to step into traffic. And being 'high' on marijuana and having marijuana in your system are 2 different things.

It doesn't help Ward's case any. But, I think it really comes down to the video and the angle it was shot at that you can't be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Stewart either tried to hit Ward or tried to scare him and accidentally ended up killing him.




YR

Stewart is an arse, but I don't think he in ANY way wanted to kill the kid...

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Stewart is an arse, but I don't think he in ANY way wanted to kill the kid...

Wanting to kill somebody only provides intent which would make it a murder charge instead of a manslaughter charge.

I think he was being reckless, but it's hard to tell for sure with the video. To me, it's something pretty common in racing...to try and scare somebody or intimidate them with your car. The car swerved to the right in a fashion in line with somebody trying to mess with Ward, but accidentally overdoing it and hitting Ward because the track didn't quite grip the wheels. The difference here is that most of the time using the car to intimidate occurs when both drivers are in the car and that would be considered in the spirit of competition and Ward would not be considered defenseless.

Like I said earlier, the reason why Stewart is getting off is because the camera angle wasn't very good and in this country you are innocent until proven guilty. Tough to take that case to court when you have a poor camera angle, especially when the defendant would be a famous gazillionaire.




YR

 

[BoysFan4ever]

If the guy had stayed in his car he'd be alive. It's his fault.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

If the guy had stayed in his car he'd be alive. It's his fault.

Sure.

But if somebody jaywalks and gets hit by a driver that aggressively tries to scare him because he's mad he jaywalked, the police are not going to say it's his fault he jaywalked.

The difficult thing for the police in that situation would be to prove that the person in the car tried to scare the jaywalker instead of hit the jaywalker purely by accident. But if they can show that there was some intent to scare the jaywalker, the person in the car is going to be arrested and indicted on vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving charges.





YR

 

[BoysFan4ever]

Sure.

But if somebody jaywalks and gets hit by a driver that aggressively tries to scare him because he's mad he jaywalked, the police are not going to say it's his fault he jaywalked.

The difficult thing for the police in that situation would be to prove that the person in the car tried to scare the jaywalker instead of hit the jaywalker purely by accident. But if they can show that there was some intent to scare the jaywalker, the person in the car is going to be arrested and indicted on vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving charges.





YR

I don't agree. Stay in your car & you live. Get out & be dumb & you die. It's that simple to me. This other stuff is silly. He'd dead & it's his fault. Simple!

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I don't agree. Stay in your car & you live. Get out & be dumb & you die. It's that simple to me. This other stuff is silly. He'd dead & it's his fault. Simple!

I could argue that if Tony Stewart's car had not approached Ward, Ward would still be alive.

Obviously if Ward had stayed in his car he would be alive. But, it has nothing to do with Stewart being liable for his actions.

It's not like there has never been a race car driver that has gotten out of their car like Ward did. Most of the time when they do, they live and go on unscathed.

If there has never been a race car driver that got out of his car like Ward did or if every single race car driver that got out of their car died...then we could say without question that Ward should have known that his likelihood of getting killed was almost certain.

The problem here is that most people don't know how the law works in situations like this.





YR

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You can't really compare this to jaywalking IMO. The problem with that line of thought is that you incorrectly associate a public setting with a race track. In a public setting, you have sidewalks and you have pedestrians that are present as a commonality. On a race track, you don't have that and you are supposed to never have that, according to rules every drive accepts.

I said this at the very beginning, the minute Ward got out of his race car, all responsibility and liability was on him. I don't believe the angle of the camera or any other circumstances would change that. Admittedly, I don't know the law either but I just think that the rules are there for some very valid, very specific reasons and once you step away from the protection those rules afford you, the liability or responsibility is off Stewart and placed squarely on Ward.

 

[Rogah]

I've never seen marijuana possess anybody to get out of their car and to step into traffic. And being 'high' on marijuana and having marijuana in your system are 2 different things.

It doesn't help Ward's case any. But, I think it really comes down to the video and the angle it was shot at that you can't be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Stewart either tried to hit Ward or tried to scare him and accidentally ended up killing him.




YR

That is exactly what happened but the apologists refuse to acknowledge it. Stewart will lose some money then get on with his life.

 

[bounce]

Seems simple enough unless your emotions are out of control or your judgement is impared.

And then whose fault is it?