In a filing with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York, the parents of Kevin Ward Jr. reiterated their claim that Sprint Cup driver Tony Stewart struck and was responsible for the death of their 20-year-old son during a sprint car race on Aug. 9, 2014 at Canandaigua (New York) Motorsports Park.
The Ward’s also refuted a toxicology report that indicated Kevin Ward Jr. smoked marijuana within five hours of the sprint car race.
In the filing, Kevin and Pamela Ward, “admit that a toxicology report exists that allegedly found Kevin A. Ward, Jr. to have smoked marijuana within at least five hours of participating in the August 9, 2014 race. However, Plaintiffs deny the validity, accuracy, and admissibility of said report.”
The Wards brought a wrongful death lawsuit against Stewart on August 7, two days before the one-year anniversary of the accident. Stewart’s lawyer followed with a counterclaim that said Stewart did not know that Ward Jr. had exited his vehicle after crashing and did not see him “until just prior to contact.”
The Ward’s filing deny’s Stewart’s claim, stating that their son’s death was a result of “malicious, reckless, intentional, and grossly negligent conduct” by Stewart.
The filing went on to say Stewart, “has a well-documented and rampant history of engaging in uncontrolled, vindictive and temperamental behavior on the race track, including, but not limited to, purposely and vengefully crashing into other race cars.”
No trial date is set for the case, which is currently slated to be held in federal court in Utica, N.Y.
Stewart has requested the case be transferred to federal court in Rochester, N.Y.
