Tony Stewart ran over an opposing driver with his car and killed him tonight. (Update. WARNING watching video of this incident is not for the faint of heart. It is graphic and disturbing)
No, that’s not a typo. Stewart struck opposing driver Kevin Ward Jr., who was walking, with his car, and witnesses say he flew about 20-25 feet. We don’t know if this was accidental or premeditated, but some media outlets have said this was apparently in response to an incident earlier in the night that involved contact between the two.
UPDATE: Tony Stewart’s team releases a statement
@espn Tony Stewart just ran over driver after he got out of his car in retaliation pic.twitter.com/R5Gz82EIPX
— logan messerly (@loganmesserly) August 10, 2014
Assistant Sports Director at WROC-TV in Rochester, NY, Thad Brown confirmed our worst fears about Kevin Ward Jr.
Driver Tony Stewart struck is dead. Stewart questioned and released. Was ‘fully cooperative’. Investigation at this time not criminal.
— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7) August 10, 2014
Driver taken by ambulance to local hospital. Pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15p. Accident happened at 10:30. Stewart thought to be at Glen
— Thad Brown (@thadbrown7) August 10, 2014
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)