The parents of racing driver Kevin Ward Jr have launched a wrongful death lawsuit after their son was tragically killed on the track. The front of Stewart’s auto appeared to clear Ward, but Ward was struck by the right rear tire and hurtled through the air. The amount of damages was not specified in the pages of the lawsuit.
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In September a district attorney in Ontario County, where the on-track incident occurred, said he thought the fact that Ward came down the track into an area where cars were still moving played a big factor in the grand jury’s decision not to indict Stewart.
Stewart is scheduled to make his first appearance at Watkins Glen on Sunday, the anniversary of Ward’s death.
Stewart and Ward bumped cars during the race and the collision sent Ward into an outside retaining wall while Stewart remained in the race.
Tantillo also said that police experts, along with a prominent accident reconstructionist hired by Stewart’s legal team, analyzed video of the accident in detail with enhanced images slowed to 75, 50 and 25 percent.
After reporting on motor racing for 40 years, including many a Saturday night at short track races, the supposition that any driver would seek revenge or try to teach somebody on foot a lesson by threatening that person with his vehicle doesn’t deserve a response.
“We used to have full-on, specialized road course cars where they were completely dedicated to turning right more so than left”.
While at Watkins Glen this weekend Stewart gave no statements on the issue of lawsuit. While the law could find no reason to charge Stewart, the burden of proof isn’t as onerous in a civil suit as it is in a criminal case.
“Stewart could have easily acted reasonably and with prudence to avoid striking Ward, just as all other drivers had done as they passed Ward during the yellow caution flag”, they argue in the lawsuit.
Mark Lanier has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stewart on behalf of the Ward family.
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“I don’t know if I’ll sleep any better tonight, or not; but I’ll be ready for tomorrow”. “I know in my heart that it was 100% an accident”. “It’s been a doubled-edged sword because you’ve got two of your drivers (Harvick and Busch) running really well each week, then two of us aren’t where we want to be yet”. “I think it’s a little early to put judgment on whether we’ve got it figured it out or not, but at least we qualified well the last two weeks”.
