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Nascar.com
Stewart will
not face criminal charges
Deciding that there was insufficient evidence to warrant criminal
charges, an Ontario County (New York) grand jury will not bring any
charges against NASCAR champion Tony Stewart for his involvement in a
sprint car accident during an Aug. 9 race at Canandaigua (N.Y.)
Motorsports Park that fatally injured fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr.
Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo held a news
conference Wednesday afternoon to deliver the findings, ultimately
saying that "there was no evidence to charge Tony Stewart with a crime."
He said the grand jury examined the evidence and heard from two dozen
witnesses for "the better part of two days" before reaching its
conclusion.
The two charges it considered were second degree manslaughter and
criminally negligent homicide. In the state of New York it takes 12 of
23 votes from the grand jury to return charges. They delivered their
verdict in less than an hour.
Tantillo said of the two dozen-plus witnesses that testified, they
included two accident reconstructionists, eye-witnesses, track workers
and medical responders along with photographs and two video recordings.
He said Stewart was able to testify, but by law he could not reveal who
else did or did not.
Of the videos, Tantillo revealed "They were relatively similar in what
they showed. They were enhanced and run through programs that allowed
the frames to be isolated. … They were pretty important parts of the
result here."
The one video previously made public shows Ward's and Stewart's cars
collide while racing on the tight 0.375-mile dirt track in Upstate New
York, then Ward quickly getting out of his hobbled car and coming down
toward the racing line to confront Stewart during the caution laps that
ensued. Stewart's car struck Ward, who was pronounced dead upon his
arrival at a local hospital.
Tantillo said there was a toxicologist report conducted on Ward and it
found that Ward was under the influence of marijuana "enough to impair
judgment."
Stewart issued a statement following Tantillo's news conference.
"This has been the toughest and most emotional experience of my life
and it will stay with me forever…
Read the rest of the article at Nascar
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