Stewart Cleared of Murder

[rebpreacher]

A sigh of relief here.
The kid's judgment was not great either, he had marijuana in his system. Why did he go down into groove where the cars were was beyond me. But he did not do it maliciously, I feel that. Its just idiots that won't leave him alone, and thats even sadder than the actual death. How people have to act. Some of the tweets I've read are monstrous.
Get a life people.

[HMS Jr.]

Next, a civil suit by Ward's family that'll likely be as successful as Portugal reclaiming Brazil given his toxicology results. Maybe.
Tough breaks all around.

[rebpreacher]

The toxicology results I reckon would have never crossed the parents' minds. I guarantee they didn't know.

[HMS Jr.]

The toxicology results I reckon would have never crossed the parents' minds. I guarantee they didn't know.

They know. They made this comment in general response to the toxicology results being mentioned.

"Our son got out of his car during caution when the race was suspended. All the other vehicles were reducing speed and not accelerating except for Stewart, who intentionally tried to intimidate Kevin by accelerating and sliding his car toward him, causing the tragedy. The focus should be on the actions of Mr. Stewart. This matter is not at rest and we will pursue all remedies in fairness to Kevin".

[rebpreacher]

In other words, they don't care. I believe its not out of love for their son, its out of dollar signs.

[dgfred]

Well, the pot would be in his system even if he smoked weeks before the accident. The stupid thing was running on the course.

There was never any real doubt who was at fault upon watching the video.

[HMS Jr.]

In other words, they don't care. I believe its not out of love for their son, its out of dollar signs.

Or elements of both. It's not uncommon. Grieving family members with a desire to affix blame and have it underscored through financial recompense.

[D1J1]

Was he ever charged with murder? How can he be cleared if he was never charged?

What actually was decided was that there was no evidence that could cause him to face any charges. Could be murder, manslaughter, reckless driving or littering. That is a huge difference.

[rebpreacher]

That is the exact words on the news. I repeated it. That kid's parents believe he murdered their son. I however, do not.

[Checkertail20]

I just saw the video and couldn't believe that Kevin Ward Jr. was out the in the middle of the racetrack walking after he had crashed. The only thing I can think of is that he had suffered a head injury and wasn't thinking clearly. I can't see how this is Tony Stewart's fault.

[Arnold J Rimmer]

Well, the pot would be in his system even if he smoked weeks before the accident. The stupid thing was running on the course.

There was never any real doubt who was at fault upon watching the video.

The tox screen should be able to tell how recently he had ingested based upon where they found the THC and in what concentration.

[boomer400]

The common video shown is actually very limited in field of view. Based on its minimal information (ignoring the audio which is irrelevant), the kid went way down into the groove where Stewart and others ran before many many times. The 45 car slowed hard just as Ward made his lateral move across the groove and toward oncoming traffic. Stewart was moving faster than the 45 car. My opinion is that the series of events contributed to the accident.

1) Ward should never have gotten out of the car. However, given past history between him and Stewart, it's not surprising it happened.
2) Ward, having exited, should never have stepped down and then laterally toward traffic. This caused only immediate traffic to be able to see him and following traffic to actually be screened from viewing him clearly.
3) At least 1 other car drove directly through his walking path, although he was momentarily above its path. Before this at least 2 other cars drove through the same section(s) before he exited the 13 car. Immediately afterwards, (a couple of seconds later) after exiting the car, he takes a number of lateral steps down the track and then he takes 3-4 strides down toward the center of the groove and then proceeded laterally toward the oncoming cars.
4) Car 45, running a little low in the groove sees him in time, slows hard (not to a complete stop but definitely on the brakes), and squirrels around slightly
5) Stewart, running a little higher in the groove (like a number of previous cars even after the initial accident) doesn't appear to see Ward in time

Quite a few people claim that vision in Sprint cars is quite clear and that Stewart couldn't have missed seeing Ward. Not having been in a current day Sprint car and in a night event, I can't say that it is true or untrue. However, having been in an older Sprint car ('80s vintage but not driving it), it's a claim that depends on the situation, I believe. I've found that typically when driving on a track though, one doesn't necessarily look directly to where you're going. More often than not, you're looking to where you want to go and your brain and body are busy processing how to get there fastest.

And when an accident occurs, more often than not, a racing driver is not looking at the accident unless he has no choice. The driver is, instead, planning to use whatever yellow flag time he has, for solving immediate issues like does he have time to pit or where does he need to position his car when the green drops again or does he need fuel, tires, etc. etc. If the driver was involved, this can mean that he's busy checking out the car for damage or handling issues. This is especially the case when it's obvious that the accident isn't critical and just needs to be cleared and no ambulance is required. Compounding this aspect is radio communications where the driver might be talking to a spotter, engineer, and track adviser all at the same time. It can be busy.

IMHO, Ward put himself in a bad place, he lucked out initially in that some of the other drivers who drove across his path of direction were low enough so they didn't hit him (even though they could have if he had just stepped 2 strides down). But the moment he walked laterally down track and then down into the groove, that was a mistake. It was exacerbated by the 45 car slowing down to avoid him and Stewart moving slightly faster than the 45 car and thus naturally wanting to be a little higher up in the groove (where he had been anyways). Thus the 45 car screened off Ward until the last moment where Stewart (I suspect) was looking past the 45 car and didn't notice Ward until it was too late.

Bad luck all round.

[Trung Si]

Leaving his car and walking on the track makes him a moron in my book no matter what he was on, his family suing for money won't bring him back or ease their pain, all it will do is enrich the lawyers.