New York’s Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo said today that after reviewing the Tony Stewart case that he would present it to a grand jury. Tantillo could have dropped the case where Stewart killed Kevin Ward Jr. at a dirt-track race in Canandaigua last August. Ward had climbed out of his car after tangling with Stewart at a dirt track race at night.
There is new scrutiny of the conduct of District Attorneys regarding their treatment of handling sports superstars after the NFL’s Ray Rice scandal where he punched a woman out cold but was not prosecuted by Atlantic City law enforcement officials – available in full view on the web from a security tape that TMZ aired – now has auto industry implications. Fasten your seat belt the ride is going to be rough.
“Over the past several weeks I have reviewed with members of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department their investigation, as it progressed, in the Tony Stewart matter,” said Tantillo.
“Recently that office concluded its work and forwarded the complete case file to me. Upon my review of all of the information contained in the entire investigation, I have made the determination that it would be appropriate to submit the evidence to a grand jury, for their determination as to what action should be taken in this matter. Accordingly, the evidence developed in the investigation will be presented to an Ontario County grand jury in the near future,” Tantillo said in a statement.
NASCAR, in the background with the growing list of NFL players abusing females (Ray Rice is just the latest headliner) and child abuse (Adrian Stewart, no relation to driver Tony, claiming he is “not a child abuser” though two children think otherwise and the medacal reports are damning) said, “We are aware of the completed investigation and the announced next steps. First, our thoughts continue to be with all who have been impacted by this tragedy. We will monitor this process and stay in close contact with Stewart-Haas Racing. It would be inappropriate for NASCAR to comment on this case so we will continue to respect the process and authorities involved.”
