re: VIDEO: Tony Stewart hits opposing driver; driver has died according to reports

Looks like Fox Sports live is going to have something in a minute or so.

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Dude is a professional driver though. I'd have to imagine if his whole purpose was to avoid the kid he would have. At the least he was intentionally trying to get close to him to intimidate him.

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From Wikipedia:

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Criminally negligent manslaughter[edit]
Criminally negligent manslaughter is variously referred to as criminally negligent homicide in the United States, gross negligence manslaughter in England and Wales. In Scotland and some Commonwealth of Nations jurisdictions the offence of culpable homicide might apply.

It occurs where death results from serious negligence, or, in some jurisdictions, serious recklessness. A high degree of negligence is required to warrant criminal liability.[9] A related concept is that of willful blindness, which is where a defendant intentionally puts himself in a position where he will be unaware of facts which would render him liable.

Criminally negligent manslaughter occurs where there is an omission to act when there is a duty to do so, or a failure to perform a duty owed, which leads to a death. The existence of the duty is essential because the law does not impose criminal liability for a failure to act unless a specific duty is owed to the victim. It is most common in the case of professionals who are grossly negligent in the course of their employment. An example is where a doctor fails to notice a patient's oxygen supply has disconnected and the patient dies (R v Adomako).

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This falls under involuntary manslaughter. If Stewart was "trying to intimidate" Ward but not kill him, he still gets about 2-5 years in jail. He would be "criminally negligent" in that case. If he intentionally tried to hurt Ward, that's voluntary manslaughter and he gets 10-20. If he intentionally tried to kill Ward, that's second-degree murder.

The only way Stewart gets off is if he can prove that he absolutely tried to get out of the way and/or only saw Ward at the very last second. It seems unlikely that they can prove an intent to kill so unless Stewart can prove he was doing the right thing or unaware until it was too late, we're looking at some kind of manslaughter charge, voluntary or involuntary depending on New York state law and what evidence the prosecutors think they have that speaks to motive.

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Doesn't intent have anything to do with how you're charged?

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There's a difference between an unavoidable accidnte and fricking up trying to intimidate someone

FS1 has "Stewart Under Investigation" coming up on the side ticker

I can imagine a scenario where TS started to buzz this kid to scare him and then lost control or suffered some sort of mechanical failure. That's not completely out of the question at this point.

I love wiki lawyers.

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sprint cars aren't easy to control

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how hard can it be to control any car going 30mph?

i'd hope they would have the integrity not to approach the family about it

especially if the kid died

going to commercial now, I think they are going to do the story when they come back.