[Meeni]

I know nothing about this type of racing, and I do not even know that Tony Stewart guy. From some of the other stories, he looks like an unsavory character, but judging him guilty of manslaughter because he has been known in unrelated events to like ass groping is just bad mob justice.

I watched the video, and here is what I saw.
1. Ward leaves his car and walks on the track with racing cars still racing
2. car 45 almost hit ward, so he appear to be walking on the race line at the exit of a turn
3. car 14 follows a line similar to car 45, with a speed that also appears similar
4. car 14 hits ward, and then starts going sideways; although they are inconclusive because of the limited field of view, we see no signs of "intent" to run over Ward from the footage

From what I see here, for all practical purpose, Ward jumped himself under the wheels of a racecar, and there was not much car 14 could have done to avoid him.



As for criminal negligence, it does not require intent, you are right. However, I cannot see exactly what could qualify here. A typical case of criminal negligence would be a crane operator that doesn't secure the work area and operates the crane over the general public. The general public is not supposed to know safety procedures, so it is the responsibility of the crane operator to ensure the safety of the public. If somebody gets killed by a falling object, there is a clear responsibility from the crane operator that failed to restrict the access to a dangerous area (or at least mark it and warn of the danger).

What we have here a a race driver racing a racecar on a racetrack, reckless driving is a normal and expected state on a racetrack (that's why it is secured and pedestrians are kept out of it...). Here, the victim of the accident is not an unsuspecting bystander that couldn't know better, it is another race driver (that therefore knows rules and safety procedures) that clearly ignore all common sense and puts himself into harms way.


I see somebody else than Stewart more at risk from criminal negligence charges, and that's the organizers of the event, as it appears they had no rules against walking on the racetrack during the race. WTF?? Such aggressive, stupid and dangerous behavior should result in an immediate revocation of one's racing license and at least a season long ban from any racing event. The complacent behavior of the race organizer puts the life of the drivers at risk (not only the stupid ones that walk the track, but also those that swerve to avoid running over them), and it smells like they do that to boost audience ratings at the expense of human lives loss, pretty disgusting and sleazy IMO.