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“Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart struck and killed a sprint car driver who had climbed from his car and was on the darkened dirt track trying to confront Stewart during a race in upstate New York on Saturday night.
Kevin Ward Jr. had crashed following contact with Stewart one lap earlier and got out of his car as it was stopped along the fence. Video of the incident showed Ward walking from his crashed car onto the racing surface as cars circled by, and, as he gestured at Stewart’s passing car, he was struck.
Authorities questioned Stewart but said no criminal charges were imminent. Stewart traveled to Watkins Glen International following the incident and planned to race in Sunday’s NASCAR event.
Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero said Stewart was “visibly shaken” and had been cooperative in the investigation. Authorities were asking spectators and others to turn over any video they recorded of the crash.” *
Cenk Uygur (http://www.twitter.com/cenkuygur) and Ana Kasparian (http://www.twitter.com/AnaKasparian) break it down.
*Read more here from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/10/tony-stewart-kevin-ward_n_5665445.html
Comments
This is the same as over-aggressive hockey and football players who cause spinal cord injuries and/or death to other players who’s lives now end, or become shortened (due to T and C level spinal injuries) as well as the victims losing their professional sport careers.
Stewart was trying to craze or scare Ward and he misjudged–involuntary manslaughter.
The back of his car was closer to the camera so the front of his car was further from the camera–therefor closer to Ward. Stewart is a professional DRIVER. He does thsi for a living. He should have avoided Ward by a mile.
C’mon guys, GrandNewsGuy gets to rant on about something completely off topic but my comment from like 8 hours ago is still awaiting moderation?
oops got the posters’ screen names mixed up. meant dr. tucker. although it seems fairly obvious he just commented on the incorrect video.
Dear Anna and Cenk,
My brother in law is a gang squad officer in Denver and he was trained to believe that everyone is born bad.
Since everyone is supposedly born bad then people need constant authoritarian control.
And since everyone is supposedly born bad so are the police.
Supposedly the police are attempting to control all of us who are supposedly born bad, but since the police were all supposedly born bad it’s ok if they behave badly.
I live in California where if a police officer feels threatened then they have the authority to kill whomever they perceive is threatening them.
And every police officer in the USA is told to shoot to kill, not to shot someone in the leg.
So, it all comes down to the false belief the everyone is born bad.
No one is born bad. We are all born in need of education and guidance so we become the best people we can be.
For the police, all it takes is the belief we are all bad, and the black young men who will become black fathers one day appear to be the worse of all to the police.
To the rest of us young black men are young men want better lives.
Also the policeman who kills a civilian always give 6 weeks paid leave with full benefits while the police commission makes up a story that shows the police officer who killed an unarmed black boy is justified.
It’s not about police science, or the facts, it’s all about beliefs that have nothing to do with reality.
When we change our beliefs we change the outcomes of our lives.
Dear Dr. Tucker,
What does your long winded rant have to do with anything on the issue, beyond it being “a public event that many, many people will inevitably pay attention to thus being a perfect medium for you to try and push your opinions upon the rest of us”? The simple fact of the matter, in regards to your rant, is that people prove every single day how cruel, heartless and terrible we are as a species. If you ignore the things people do, you also ignore all the pain inflicted upon the victims of criminals, violent offenders and heartless, morally inept people. You, as a doctor, should know full well that you need to take the world as it is, not as you wish it were.
Now, in regards to the video and the actual event happening, the guy was out of his vehicle walking around on the track and SHOUTING at the other cars. WHY?!?! WHO in their right mind would run around on the track pointing fingers and screaming at vehicles driving at constant speeds of 70+ mph, putting all of their attention into “getting ahead of the other vehicles”? An idiot. Given the history of Tony, yeah, I can understand why people would assume that he chose to run over and murder him. But I also know that going that speed, in that situation, I can easily see him not seeing the moron running around on the track pointing fingers at people until it was too late.
They aren’t going 70+ under caution. Even on superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega they aren’t going 70+ under caution and typically the size of the track dictates the speed you drive under caution.
Also, he isn’t the first racer to angrily approach a moving vehicle with the intention of confronting the driver. All the people who have never seen a race in their lives really should quit acting like this guy is some unequivocal idiotic exception. Hell going around in circles at 100+ mph on a dirt track with other cars doing the same thing could easily be considered just as dangerous and stupid. Peril is seriously just an everyday part of what constitutes the world of motorsports. People who, in normal circumstances, typically just watch guys throw a ball around really need to understand the mentality of a race car driver (and the constant threat of danger they face) before passing judgement.
Tony obviously murdered that guy!
It’s not so bad on this video, but could you guys please fix the focus issue when the camera is panned out to cover both hosts? The camera is not focused on the hosts’ faces. It’s really annoying.