14 DAY TRIAL // NASCAR driver and champion Tony Stewart is facing a PR disaster these days but what's likely getting to him more is his guilty conscience. As the media is beginning to turn on him and hold him morally accountable for the death of fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr, Stewart is now said to have gone in hiding.
The news comes via The Daily Mail which has spoken with an airport director that oversaw Stewart's departure from his hometown in Columbus, Indiana. Stewart had arrived there with his private jet but Brian Payne, director of the local airport claims that he didn't get off.
Handlers simply loaded new luggage into the plane and then the private aircraft was cleared for takeoff almost immediately. “It was only here 10 or 15 minutes,” Payne reveals while also pointing out that “I don't know whether Stewart was on board, but he certainly did not get off.”
Unfortunately, there is no way of telling where Stewart is headed since there is no possibility of tracking the plane publicly. When the media turned to Stewart's spokesperson to ask about his whereabouts, they were given an ambitious answer that the driver is “staying with friends.”
While that doesn't exactly narrow down the search, it does beg the question why Stewart is in need of staying with friends at this time. Some are pointing out that the driver is in fact trying to escape negative media attention as the police investigation continues.
A police official said on Monday that “Investigators continue to seek witnesses, gather evidence and develop racetrack crash reconstruction,” adding that at least two more weeks will have to pass before a conclusion can be reached.
Initially, police said that there were no criminal charges to be brought against Tony Stewart for the fact that he ran over fellow driver Kevin Ward Jr. during a race. Ward subsequently died in the hospital on the same day and the cause of death was listed as blunt trauma.
Ward's family has already spoken out in the press and on social media, and blamed Stewart for the crash and death of the young Ward. “Thanks for thinking of our family [Tony] Stewart when you decided to be a [expletive]!” his aunt wrote on Facebook.
Kevin's father, Ward Sr., also made his opinions public and was quoted as saying “Tony Stewart was the best damn driver by far on the track that night. Why he had to go up as high as he did and hog my son, there’s no reason for it.”
Tony Stewart defended his action by saying that “there aren’t words to describe the sadness I feel about the accident.” His spokesperson added that the NASCAR champion was “grieving and grief doesn’t have a timetable,” indicating that it could be a while before he comes back from hiding.