We knew last week that investigators had finished their work in upstate New York, trying to piece together exactly what they believe happened when Tony Stewart collided with Kevin Ward, killing Ward on a dirt track.
Ontario County DA Michael Truillo announced Tuesday afternoon that the case would get presented to the county's Grand Jury.
The incident, which happened at a track in Canandaigua, New York on August 9th, was a result of Ward spinning out during a race, which may or may not have been caused by Stewart. Tony's car came around the track the next lap, Ward got out of his car and at least according to video, moved towards Stewart's car.
That's when he was hit and eventually died from the crash.
Stewart spent three weeks on the sidelines and investigators have spent a month trying to collect videos and photos of the incident in an effort to piece together what may have happened and whether or not Stewart intentionally hit Ward.
What should be of concern here is that the D.A felt he had enough information to go to the Grand Jury about this. And while they may not feel there is enough compelling evidence to hand down an indictment, it appears...at least on the surface their may indeed be enough to charge Stewart with a crime.
Now we just wait and see.
No date has been set for presentation to the Grand Jury, but since they are usually rotated in most places on a fairly quick rotation, we'd expect it to happen soon.
Stay tuned.
Our pals at ESPN got legal guru Roger Cossack on the phone to discuss:
Showing posts with label Canandaigua Motorsports Track. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canandaigua Motorsports Track. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Should Tony Stewart Race at Watkins Glen? (UPDATED)
If you are just waking up and reading through the overnight news, you probably low about the Tony Stewart incident at an Ontario County, New York dirt track.
A driver was killed after being hit by Stewart's race car during a heat at the Canandaigua Motorsports Track is being investigated by the county police department. The investigation began after 20-year old Kevin Ward, the driver in question, died in a local hospital.
We'll spare you the video in this post, it can be seen in our original report on the incident.
Scroll down or page or click on the link RIGHT HERE
The reason for the follow up column, according to Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart still plans on racing Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen. No, Stewart is not facing charges from the incident at the present time, but we're stunned that he feels like racing less than 24-hours later.
Will Stewart be charged: That might be difficult to prove. If you've seen the video, you can plainly see Ward, after being spun out by Stewart, get out of his car and he's quite visibly angry. You can also see another driver avoid Ward who is gesturing towards Stewart. Stewart appears at first glance to try and swerve around him as well, but wasn't able to get out of the way.
The Ontario County sheriff's department is investigating the incident as they should. And yes, someone died at the track. There should be an investigation. A detailed one at that.
Reports say Stewart is devastated and he should be. It's a perfectly normal reaction to a horrific incident.
But how do you get past it quickly?
We have interviewed Stewart multiple times and are well aware that he lives, eats and breathes racing. There are very few other things in life that he does or wants to do. He may feel as though racing will take his mind off the incident.
But how?
NASCAR is following all developments and at the current time does not feel they should keep Stewart off the track. They don't feel ready to keep him away. If for some reason charges get filed, then we have a different conversation. We aren't there yet.
The part that is difficult to understand, and you'd have to get inside Stewart's head to know the reason he's going back on the track. The question we and probably you have though is this: "How do you focus on what you are doing, knowing an accident you were involved in killed a man just a few hours before?"
Here's video from WROC-TV of a press conference held by Ontario County Sheriff Philip Provero who talks about the incident and how the investigation is proceeding:
UPDATE---10:25 a.m: Per Stewart's Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli: Stewart will not drive in the race at Watkins Glen. Reagan Smith will drive the car for this race.
Ed Note: This is the right thing to do. As much as Tony may have wanted to race, out of deference to what happened to Kevin Ward, he needed to not be behind the wheel today. Nobody knows how the investigation will progress, but this is the proper decision.
A driver was killed after being hit by Stewart's race car during a heat at the Canandaigua Motorsports Track is being investigated by the county police department. The investigation began after 20-year old Kevin Ward, the driver in question, died in a local hospital.
We'll spare you the video in this post, it can be seen in our original report on the incident.
Scroll down or page or click on the link RIGHT HERE
The reason for the follow up column, according to Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart still plans on racing Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen. No, Stewart is not facing charges from the incident at the present time, but we're stunned that he feels like racing less than 24-hours later.
Will Stewart be charged: That might be difficult to prove. If you've seen the video, you can plainly see Ward, after being spun out by Stewart, get out of his car and he's quite visibly angry. You can also see another driver avoid Ward who is gesturing towards Stewart. Stewart appears at first glance to try and swerve around him as well, but wasn't able to get out of the way.
The Ontario County sheriff's department is investigating the incident as they should. And yes, someone died at the track. There should be an investigation. A detailed one at that.
Reports say Stewart is devastated and he should be. It's a perfectly normal reaction to a horrific incident.
But how do you get past it quickly?
We have interviewed Stewart multiple times and are well aware that he lives, eats and breathes racing. There are very few other things in life that he does or wants to do. He may feel as though racing will take his mind off the incident.
But how?
NASCAR is following all developments and at the current time does not feel they should keep Stewart off the track. They don't feel ready to keep him away. If for some reason charges get filed, then we have a different conversation. We aren't there yet.
The part that is difficult to understand, and you'd have to get inside Stewart's head to know the reason he's going back on the track. The question we and probably you have though is this: "How do you focus on what you are doing, knowing an accident you were involved in killed a man just a few hours before?"
Here's video from WROC-TV of a press conference held by Ontario County Sheriff Philip Provero who talks about the incident and how the investigation is proceeding:
UPDATE---10:25 a.m: Per Stewart's Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli: Stewart will not drive in the race at Watkins Glen. Reagan Smith will drive the car for this race.
Ed Note: This is the right thing to do. As much as Tony may have wanted to race, out of deference to what happened to Kevin Ward, he needed to not be behind the wheel today. Nobody knows how the investigation will progress, but this is the proper decision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)