Will Stewart be charged?

[Dare]

http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/video?vid=317063747578

[cosworth151]

The police say that they are looking at it only as a racing incident.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/sports/2014/08/10/bts-will-tony-stewart-face-criminal-charges.13wham.html

[Scott]

Unfortunately I can't get Dare's link to open.  The one you posted Cos was originally posted first thing in the morning after the accident.  I think the police at that point had done nothing more than perhaps gather evidence, they certainly hadn't had time to really analyze videos. 

There have to be at least a handful of other videos from that race, and apparently Stewart had a couple GoPros on his car that will have been confiscated as well.  The police are going to cross their t's and dot their i's so they don't end up on the losing end of a lawsuit, but I suspect there will be charges laid sometime down the road.

[lkjohnson1950]

It sounds as if they are leaning toward not prosecuting ib this article. I'm sure there will be a big civil lawsuit that will settle.

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/08/11/stewart-crash-probe-focuses-on-lighting-track/20944911/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D513695

[Scott]

I don't know, I still think there might be charges.  The article below the video indicated that the investigators were still piecing together the events. 

A bit hard to pick out any facts from Twitter or anywhere else on the internet, but if a couple witnesses can be believed, Stewart gunned his engine as he was passing by Ward.  If that's the case and he was trying to intimidate Ward but things went bad, then he could very easily be charged with manslaughter. 

[Jericoke]

I don't know, I still think there might be charges.  The article below the video indicated that the investigators were still piecing together the events. 

A bit hard to pick out any facts from Twitter or anywhere else on the internet, but if a couple witnesses can be believed, Stewart gunned his engine as he was passing by Ward.  If that's the case and he was trying to intimidate Ward but things went bad, then he could very easily be charged with manslaughter.

Agreed

No way the outcome was what he was trying to do, but he definitely made a conscious effort to intimidate the young man.  Actions have consequences.  Race car drivers are in control of a phenomenal amount of power and kinetic energy.  If they're not prepared to be responsible with it every second, they have no place in the sport.

[John S]

I'm not sure they will have enough to charge Tony with anything, after all Kevin was wandering all over the race track - sure they were under caution flags but the race had not been stopped/red flagged. A freak accident in my book with a tragic outcome.

Motorsport in the US needs to accept most of the blame for not making clear rules about what drivers must do, and indeed not do, when their car is stopped due to an accident or mechanical breakdown. I believe they have now rushed trough a rule that a driver must stay in the vehicle, unless it's unsafe to do so, until the marshals/track crew arrive.

This incident seems to have brought much venom against Tony from a lot of people who never follow either dirt track or NASCAR. An editorial on motorsport.com - link below - makes a lot of good points about Tony's unselfish contribution to the lower leagues dirt track racing, and his charitable efforts. It also makes the point strongly that all drivers need to keep their emotions under control when adversity deals them a rotten hand.

Hotheads are not only a danger driving/walking on track, but on social media and racing websites as well.

 http://master.motorsport.com/sprint/news/it-needs-to-end-now

[Scott]

John, Tony Stewart has one of the hottest heads in motorsports.  I don't really care what a columnist says about his contribution to Sprint Cars (the most fluff piece I've ever seen re-twitted thousands of times - the writer has no more info than any of us who saw the video).  If it turns out he did in fact not have some mechanical or line of sight problem, and he did indeed use the car to intimidate Ward, then there is every reason to charge him with manslaughter.  Every Stewart defender I've read has used the expression that Ward was 'wandering around the track' as if he was lost or something.  Ward did nothing different than what Stewart himself has done on a couple televised situations, and probably a few more non-televised situations...he approached the car that put him out as it came around the next lap and gave the driver a piece of his mind, albeit through clearly understood gestures. 

I am the first to admit that Stewart in no way intended it to happen, and you know what?  Neither did Ward.  I will speculate here and suggest that Ward got close enough to be clearly understood, but far enough away to NOT be run over.  Tony, through carelessness, fury or negligence changed things on Ward, not the other way around. 

[Dare]

I think the car or cars in front of Stewart were to
far up on the track and veered at the last minute and
caught Stewart off guard.Yes it could have been avoided
but I reckon it was bound to happen soon or later.Many
series have enacted nre rules to stopfuture incidents.

[Jericoke]

I think the car or cars in front of Stewart were to
far up on the track and veered at the last minute and
caught Stewart off guard.Yes it could have been avoided
but I reckon it was bound to happen soon or later.Many
series have enacted nre rules to stopfuture incidents.

It's great to have the rules, and certainly regardless of any legal proceedings, individual series are going to have to decide if Tony Stewart is responsible enough to continue to be allowed to race.

There is an allowance for sports to 'over rule' every day life.  Hockey, football (all kinds) allow for contact that would land any hooligan in jail, but is considered part of the game.  However, in hockey there is precedent for participants being charged with something deemed 'beyond the scope' of the sport.

(PS, does it peeve anyone else that the name 'Stewart' is being used as a name to indicate dangerous recklessness in motorsport?)

[John S]

I am the first to admit that Stewart in no way intended it to happen, and you know what?  Neither did Ward.  I will speculate here and suggest that Ward got close enough to be clearly understood, but far enough away to NOT be run over.  Tony, through carelessness, fury or negligence changed things on Ward, not the other way around.

I'm not convinced anyone can lay enough blame on Tony to bring a charge on the negligence front, it's clearly the motorsport at fault that they have not, until now, outlawed drivers being on the track. In fact the new rushed through regs kind of admit there is something wrong with having drivers walking on the race track.

On the fury it will be very difficult to prove - unless Tony confesses to it - and instead points mainly at Kevin for his clearly emotional stance wandering about the track.

As to carelessness again it may be possible that Stewart accelerated in an unsafe manner, however there was a course yellow and not a red flag so racing continued and I'm sure Tony will argue that he thought he was clear of Kevin having passed him. All at the race seem to agree Kevin was hard to see in his dark coloured racesuit. Sure Tony may have been trying to hurl a bit of dirt at Kevin from spinning his wheels a bit but again that's gonna be hard to prove without Tony admitting it.

'Beyond a reasonable doubt' is still the yardstick for judging cases in the states I believe, so I really can't see a jury calling it manslaughter. Prosecutors will I'm sure be reluctant to lay manslaughter charges, that's unless this all blows up into a political situation because of an unjustified - IMHO - public outcry, or if an individual in the prosecutors office wants to make a name for themselves on a heavily reported case.   

Sounds more like the English coroners court verdict of death by misadventure is the most likely scenario, but we'll see.   

 

[Scott]

Everything you've said is based on the idea that there is no more evidence.  The police were inviting everyone with video or other evidence to bring it to their attention.  As well, and perhaps more damning are the GoPro cameras fixed to Tony's car that may have gone missing according to some rumours.

I find it hard to believe that this is the only video out there.

[lkjohnson1950]

There is supposed to be a second video, but although it's talked about, I haven't been able to actually watch it. If there were cameras on TS car, no one is talking about them. The first video seems to show the car in front of Tony swerving to miss Ward. The lighting was very bad. The fact is, no one knows what Tony was doing or thinking except Tony. John's got it spot on, there won't be any charges without a "smoking gun" video, or political gain for someone. There will be a massive civil suit, which in the end will be settled. Sponsors will decide Tony's racing future.