Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
It was announced on Monday that the wrongful death lawsuit filed against Tony Stewart by the parents of Kevin Ward Jr. would be assigned to U.S. District Judge David Hurd. Stewart’s legal team asked on Friday for the case for the be moved to federal court rather than the New York state court.
Mark Lanier, who is representing the Ward family, said on Tuesday that he doesn’t plan to challenge the removal and expects the case to continue in federal court.
Filing the lawsuit on August 7, the parents are seeking unspecified damages related to their son’s suffering, death and their own loss of economic support and services from their son. Kevin and Pamela Ward claim that Stewart was “reckless and grossly negligent” in their 20-year-old’s son death.
During a sprint car event on August 9th at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park, Ward Jr. was spun out by Stewart. He then got out of his car to display his displeasure, when Stewart’s car would make contact with Ward, sending him sliding across the track. Ward Jr. would be transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. Tony Stewart took a couple weeks off, but returned behind the wheel at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
On September 24, Orange County District Attorney Michael Tantillo released a statement, stating that the grand jury found that Tony Stewart will not be charged in relation to Kevin Ward Jr.’s death.
“This week an Ontario County grand jury has been meeting to hear testimony and review evidence gathered in the Tony Stewart matter, relating to the death of Kevin Ward at the Canandaigua Motor Speedway on August 9, 2014. The grand jury has completed its investigation,” the statement read. “During the course of the grand jury presentation, approximately two dozen witnesses testified. These included a number of race car drivers, racetrack employees and volunteers, two accident reconstruction experts, medical personnel, and a number of police officers. In addition, the grand jury reviewed a number of photographs and video recordings, as well as other documentary evidence.
“After listening to and questioning all of the witnesses, and reviewing all of the evidence, the grand jury has determined that there is no basis to charge Tony Stewart with any crimes; his case was “No-Billed” by the grand jury.”
Tantillo spoke the media following the releasement of the statement, stating that the charges of manslaughter in the second degree and criminally negligent homicide were presented to the grand jury. He also revealed that at the time of his death, Ward was under the influence of marijuana, enough that would have impaired his judgment at the time.
