Kevin Ward, Jr. Had Enough Marijuana in His System to Impair Judgment; Tony Stewart Not Charged

The Big Lead ^ | Sep 25, 2014 | Jason Lisk

[KeyLargo]

Kevin Ward, Jr. Had Enough Marijuana in His System to Impair Judgment; Tony Stewart Not Charged

By: Jason Lisk 9 hours ago

Tony Stewart will not be indicted by an Ontario County (NY) grand jury in the death of Kevin Ward, Jr. Stewart’s vehicle struck Ward after Ward exited his own vehicle on the track and walked toward the middle of the race track at Canandaigua Motor Speedway on August 9, 2014

[CodeJockey]

Serious question. Someone explain to me how they knew Ward was high at the time? My understanding is that he could have the devils lettuce in his system from usage weeks ago?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And if Tony Stewart had been run down while doing that I’d be defending the guy who accidentally ran him down.

[Texas Eagle]

You people would be more outraged about an 8th grade boy wronging an 8th grade girl.

An actual human being was killed here.

[clintonh8r]

I believe the report stated that there was enough in his system to impair him. When it was consumed is irrelevant.

[Texas Eagle]

Nothing to see here. Move along. Please at least try to step around the dead body.

Just a pothead anyway. Not an actual human being.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Yes a human was killed. He made a stupid mistake and was killed - it is tragic no matter what the circumstances. So what would have happened if Stewart had time to stop - all the cars stopped. Would this kid have attacked Stewart? What if he had killed Stewart in the process? Would you then be this upset for Stewart?

[Delta Dawn]

Face it. Ward is dead because of his own actions. Period.

[Texas Eagle]

Is driving too high a line while under caution considered a safety violation?

Evidently not. Not that NASCAR would've punished Tony had he NOT killed Ward.

He was the big duck in a little pond (or however that saying goes) so it's not like they would've thrown the book at him the way Tony threw his car at Ward.

[Texas Eagle]

Nothing to see here. Move along. Not an actual human being. Just a pothead.

[Fresh Wind]

Is driving too high a line while under caution considered a safety violation?

As near as I can tell, the rules don't say anything about what line cars must take under a yellow flag. They do say cars must slow down to an unspecified speed as enforced by a pace car (don't know if there's a pace car in a sprint car race), but there is definitely no passing permitted.

A new NASCAR rule has been added which prohibits drivers from exiting disabled cars and wandering around on the track, unless there is an immediate risk of fire or explosion (rare these days). Apparently, this wasn't in the rule book previously because no one thought that a driver would be stupid enough to do what Ward did, but they didn't take into consideration what being high on pot might do to a driver's judgement.

[GrootheWanderer]

That actually happened to a friend of mine. He was driving home after working second shift at a factory. Some drunk guy had gotten into a scuffle with a second drunk guy, gotten the worst of it and ran away. He ran right in front of my friend’s car.

My friend never had a chance to stop. No charges were filed against him. He was very shaken for years about what happened.

But according to some on this board, he killed another man, so he’s an awful human being, I guess.

[Erik Latranyi]

You have a serious problem. Seek professional help.

I am serious. You are way too caught up in this.

[KeyLargo]

"Serious question. Someone explain to me how they knew Ward was high at the time? My understanding is that he could have the devils lettuce in his system from usage weeks ago?Marijuana Drug Information"

I'm not a toxicologist and never played one on TV, but I found this:

Abuse

The psychological effects of THC include an increased sense of well being or euphoria, relaxation, slowed psycho-motor response, an altered sense of time, short term memory impairment and impairment of multi-tasking performance.

THC Retention Time

Infrequent (less than twice/week) Smoking: When screening assays of 50 ng/mL or greater are used, urine samples will generally be positive for 1-3 days.

Regular (several times per week) Smoking: May result in urine specimens testing positive for 7-21 days.

Chronic (daily) Smoking: An individual who smokes marijuana daily for prolonged periods of time can test positive for 30 days or longer.

https://www.redwoodtoxicology.com/resources/drug_info/marijuana

[Fresh Wind]

I don’t think all that applies now that pot is medicine. /sarc

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

What were the odds he would get nailed?

'Bout the same as the frog's chances.

[Solson]

You are an idiot.

[frithguild]

If you're going to go to that much trouble, why not just shoot them?

How would that be entertaining?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

That list doesn’t include paranoia associated with pot

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“A new NASCAR rule has been added which prohibits drivers from exiting disabled cars and wandering around on the track, unless there is an immediate risk of fire or explosion (rare these days). Apparently, this wasn’t in the rule book previously because no one thought that a driver would be stupid enough to do what Ward did, but they didn’t take into consideration what being high on pot might do to a driver’s judgement.”

I think IMSA has also added a rule to this effect. Prior to that, the rule was that drivers were expected to obey directions from race officials (which can be anyone from the race director all the way down to a corner worker).

Having driven a race car myself, I do know that if your car is disabled (fortunately I haven’t had that particular pleasure in a race car, although I’m sure I eventually would if I had the budget to keep racing) you are much safer in the car than out of it while the course is hot. Basically, you don’t get out of the car unless it’s on fire or you can easily get to a safe location, such as the “cold” side of a wall or a fence.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Reminds me of a quote from the movie BEN HUR.

“There is no law in the arena. Many are killed...”