The Chappaquiddick incident was a single-vehicle car accident that occurred in Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, on Friday, July 18, 1969. The late-night crash was caused by Senator Ted Kennedy's negligence, the death of 28-year-old passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle.
According to his testimony, Kennedy accidentally drove his car from a one-lane bridge and into the Poucha Pond that was swept away by waves. He swam free, left the scene, and did not report the accident to the police for ten hours; Kopechne was killed in a full-fledged car. The next day, the car with Kopechne's body inside was invented by the diver, minutes before Kennedy reported the accident to the local authorities. Kennedy pleaded guilty to allegations of leaving the crash site causing personal injury, and subsequently received a two-month jail sentence.
The Chappaquiddick incident became a nationally known scandal, while it occurred during the Apollo 11 spaceflight, and possibly influenced Kennedy's decision not to campaign for the President in 1972 and 1976.
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On the night of July 18, 1969, US Senator from Massachusetts Ted Kennedy held a party on Chappaquiddick Island, accessible via ferry from Edgartown town on the larger nearby island, Martha's Vineyard. Meeting, in Sidney Lawrence hut ( 41.3742 Â ° N 70.4707 Â ° W / 41.3742; -70.4707 ), is a reunion for a group of six single women including Mary Jo Kopechne. The group, known as Boiler Room Girls, has been serving President Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968. Also present were Kennedy's cousin Joseph Gargan (1930-2017) and Paul F. Markham, a Gargan school friend who previously served as US Attorney for Massachusetts. Lawyers Charles Tretter, Raymond La Rosa, and John B. Crimmins (part-time driver Kennedy) also attended the party. All but one male (Crimmins, age 63) were married, and all six women were single and 28 or younger.
That weekend, Ted Kennedy also competed in the Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta, a sailing competition lasting several days.
During the investigation of Kopechne's death, Kennedy testified that he left the party at "around 11:15 pm." When he announces that he is leaving, Kopechne tells him "that he is willing to leave, if I will be kind enough to drive him back to his hotel." Kennedy then asks the key to his mother's car from his driver, Crimmins. Asked why he did not ask his driver to drive them both, Kennedy explained that Crimmins and some other guests "were ending their meal, enjoying the fellowship and it seemed unnecessary to ask him to take me back to Edgartown." Kopechne did not tell anyone that he would go with Kennedy, and left his wallet and hotel key at the party.
Maps Chappaquiddick incident
Timeline of events
Vice Sheriff Christopher "Huck" Look worked that night as a special police officer in the Edgartown regatta dance. At 12:30, see leaving the dance, crossing over to Chappaquiddick on a yacht launch boat, into his parked car, and headed toward his house, which is south of Dike Bridge. He testified that between 12:30 and 12:45, he saw a dark car approaching the Dike Road intersection. The car was driven by a man with a female passenger in the front seat. The car first drove to the private Cemetery Street and stopped there. Thinking car occupants may be missing, Look out of his car and walk towards another vehicle. When he was 25 to 30 feet (7.5 to 9 m) away, the car started backing toward him. When Look was called to offer his help, the car moved quickly eastward, toward the ocean, along Dike Road, leaving a cloud of dust. See remember that the car's license plate starts with the letter "L" and contains two "7", the two details are true of Kennedy's 1967 four-door Oldsmobile Delmont 88; the license plate on the Kennedy vehicle is "L78-207."
According to Kennedy's official testimony he made a mistake to Dike Road, which is a dark dirt road that leads east to the Dike Bridge (also spelled Dyke Bridge). Dike Road is not paved, but Kennedy, driving at "about twenty miles per hour [32 km/h]", takes "no special notice" of that fact, and does not realize that he is no longer heading west toward the ferry landing, but head east toward the barrier beach.
Dike Bridge (Dyke Bridge), ( 41,3734 Â ° N 70,4536 Â ° W / 41.3734; -70.4536 ), connecting Tom's Neck Point and Cape Poge to Chappaquiddick Island, is a wooden structure that, at that time, is not protected by guardrail and tilting toward the road. A split second before he reached the bridge, Kennedy braked and then drove on the south side of the bridge. The car falls into Poucha Pond's tide (no channel) and stops, upside down, under water. Kennedy later stated that he could swim freely from a vehicle, but Kopechne did not. On examination, Kennedy claimed that he called Kopechne's name several times from the shore and tried to swim to reach seven or eight times. Knowing that the woman was still trapped in the vehicle, Kennedy rested in the bank for about 15 minutes before he walked back to Lawrence Cottage, where the party was attended by Kopechne and other "Boiler Room Girls". Kennedy refused to see any house with the lights on during the trip back to Lawrence Cottage.
According to one comment, Kennedy's foot route back to Lawrence Cottage will take him past four houses from where he can call to call for help before he reaches a functioning phone at the lodge. However, he did not try to contact the locals. The first house, referred to as "Rumah Dike", is 150 yards (yards) from the bridge and is occupied by Sylvia Malm and her family at the time of the incident. Malm later stated that he had left the lights at the residence when he retired that night.
According to Kennedy's testimony, Gargan and co-host party Paul Markham returned to the Strait of Malacca with him to try to save Kopechne. The two other men also tried several times to dive into the water to save Kopechne. Kennedy testified that their efforts to save Kopechne failed, and Gargan and Markham drove with him to the ferry landing. The two men insisted repeatedly that the accident should be reported to the authorities. According to Markham's testimony, Kennedy burst into tears and almost went crazy. Kennedy went on to testify, "[I] had full intentions to report it, and I mentioned to Gargan and Markham something like, 'You take care of other girls, I will take care of the accident!' - that's what I say and I dive into the water. "Kennedy had told Gargan and Markham not to tell any other women about the incident. "Because I feel strongly that if these girls are told that the accident has happened and Mary Jo, in fact, drowns, that it will happen." it was only a matter of seconds before all the girls, who were Mary Jo's close friends, would go to the scene and enter the water with, I feel, most likely that some serious accident might have happened to one of them. "
Gargan and Markham then testified that they assumed that Kennedy would notify the authorities once he returned to Edgartown, and they did not report on their own. According to Kennedy's testimony, he swam across a 150-foot channel, returned to Edgartown, and returned to his hotel room, where he undressed and collapsed on his bed. Hearing voices, he then put on dry clothes and asked someone what time it was: it was like 2:30 am, the senator said. He testified that, as the night wore on, "I was almost thrown and turned and walked around the room.... I was not desperate all night, because of a miracle, Mary Jo will run away from the car."
Back at his hotel, Kennedy complained at 2:55 am to the hotel owner that he had been awakened by a noisy party. At 7.30 pm, he spoke "casually" for the winner of the race sailing the previous day and gave no indication that something was wrong. At 8:00, Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a "hot conversation." According to Kennedy's testimony, the two men asked why he had not reported the accident. Kennedy responded by telling them "about my own thoughts and feelings when I swam in that channel... that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they would say Mary Jo was alive."
Crisis Management
The three men then crossed back to Chappaquiddick Island on the ferry, where Kennedy made a series of phone calls from pay phones near the ferry crossing. He makes phone calls to his friends for advice. Kennedy still did not report the accident to the authorities.
Kennedy telephoned Helga Wagner, John Tunney, and the others, the morning after his car went to the swept Poucha Tambak.
Robert McNamara, Ted Sorensen, Richard N. Goodwin, Lem Billings, Milton Gwirtzman, David W. Burke, John Culver, John Tunney, Stephen Edward Smith, Joseph F. Gargan, Paul E. Markham, dan yang lainnya datang untuk memberi nasehat.
Pemulihan tubuh Kopechne dan pernyataan Kennedy
That morning, two fishermen had spotted a car drowning in water and informed the occupants of a nearby cottage with the scene, calling the authorities at around 8:20 am.
Edgartown James Arena Chief of Police arrived at the site about 10 or 15 minutes later. After unsuccessful attempts to inspect the submerged vehicle interior, Arena summoned a commercial diver along with equipment capable of pulling or extinguishing the vehicle out of the water. Diver John Farrar, captain of the Edgartown Fire Rescue Unit, arrived at 8:45 am with dive equipment and found Kopechne's body; he removed it from the vehicle in 10 minutes. The police checked the license plate of the car and saw that it was registered to Kennedy. Kennedy was still on a pay phone with a ferry crossing over and hearing that his car and Kopechne's body had been found; he crossed back to Edgartown and went to the police station. Gargan simultaneously went to the hotel where the "Boiler Room Girls" were staying to inform them of the incident.
At 10 am, Kennedy entered the police station in Edgartown, made several phone calls, and then dictated a statement to his aide, Paul Markham, who was later given to the police. The statement reads:
On July 18, 1969, at about 11:15 pm in Chappaquiddick, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, I drove my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I'm not familiar with the road and turn right onto Dike Road, instead of bothering to leave on Main Street. After traveling about a mile and a half [800 m] on Dike Road, I descended the hill and found a narrow bridge. The car went to the side of the bridge. There was one passenger with me, a Miss Mary [Kopechne], a former secretary of my brother, Senator Robert Kennedy. The car turned and sank into the water and landed with a roof resting on the bottom. I tried to open the car doors and windows but could not remember how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly got down to the car to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was not successful in his efforts. I was exhausted and in a state of shock. I remember walking back to where my friends were eating. There was a car parked in front of the cottage and I climbed into the backseat. I then asked someone to take me back to Edgartown. I remember walking for a period and then returning to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police.
Court view
On July 25 - seven days after the incident - Kennedy pleaded guilty to allegations of leaving the crash site that caused bodily injury. Kennedy's lawyer suggested that prison sentences should be suspended, and prosecutors agreed to quote Kennedy's age (he was 37 years old at the time), his character, and his previous reputation. Judge James Boyle sentenced Kennedy to two months in jail, a minimum sentence for offenses, which he suspended.
Upon announcing the sentence, Boyle referred to Kennedy's "flawless record" and said he was "already there, and will continue to be punished far beyond anything the court can apply."
Kennedy's Kennedy's statement on television
At 7:30 that night, Kennedy made a long statement about an incident that was broadcast live by the television network. Among other things, he said:
- "Only health reason" has prevented his wife from accompanying him to the screen race.
- There was no "any truth to the widespread suspicion about immoral behavior" about Kennedy and Kopechne's behavior that night.
- He "is not driving under the influence of liquor."
- His behavior for several hours immediately after the accident "made no sense to him at all."
- His doctor had told him that he had a concussion and shock, but he did not try to use his medical condition to escape from responsibility for his actions.
- He "considers [ed] as untenable the fact that [he] did not report the accident to the police immediately."
- Instead of informing the authorities immediately, he "asked the help of two friends, Joe Gargan and Paul Markham, and directed them to return to the scene with [him] (then after midnight) to make a new effort to dive and found Miss Kopechne. "
- "All sorts of hasty thoughts" crossed his mind after the accident, including "whether the girl might still live somewhere outside the area..., do some terrible curses really hang over the whole family Kennedy.. is there some justifiable reason for [he] to doubt what has happened and to delay his [report] "... is it somehow terrible the weight of this extraordinary event may in some way pass from his shoulder ]. "li>
- He is controlled "by a bunch of emotions - sadness, fear, doubt, fatigue, panic, confusion, and shock."
- After instructing Gargan and Markham "not to worry about Mary Jo's friends that night," Kennedy returned to the ferry with the two men and then "suddenly jumped into the water and impulsively swam, almost drowning once more in effort, back to [his] hotel around 2 am and collapse in [his] room. "
Kennedy then asked the Massachusetts people to decide whether to resign:
If at any time, the citizens of Massachusetts should lack confidence in the character of their Senator or his ability, with or without justification, he can not in my opinion adequately do his job, and should not continue his post. The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile. So I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think of this with me. In the face of this decision, I ask for your suggestions and opinions. To make it I look for your prayers. For this is the decision I will eventually make myself.
He concludes by quoting a passage from a book by his brother, John, Profile in Courage .
Testimony and causes of death
John Farrar is the captain of the Edgartown Fire Rescue Unit and the diver who restores Kopechne's body. He alleges that Kopechne died from exhaustion rather than drowning or from the impact of an upside-down vehicle. This hypothesis is based on the posture in which it finds the body and body's relative position to the main air bag area in the vehicle upside down. Farrar also insisted that Kopechne might survive if more timely rescue efforts had been made. Farrar puts Kopechne's body inside the well in the backseat of a submerged car. Rigor mortis was visible, his hands clasped on the backseat, and his face was facing up. Farrar testified in the Investigations:
It looked as though she was holding back to take her last breath. It is a position that is consciously considered.... He does not drown. He died of being out of breath in his own air vacuum. It took at least three or four hours to die. I could get it out of the car twenty-five minutes after I got the call. But he [Ted Kennedy] did not call.
Later on in the examination, Farrar testified that Kopechne's body was pressed in a car where air bubbles would form. He interprets it means that Kopechne survived the air bubble after the accident, and he concluded it
Had I received a call within five to ten minutes of the accident, and I was able, because I was the next morning, on the side of the victim within twenty-five minutes after receiving a call, in which case there was a strong possibility that he would live when expelled of the submerged car.
Farrar believes that Kopechne "lived for at least two hours down there."
The victim wore a blouse, a bra, and trousers, but no panties. Medical examiner, Dr. Donald Mills, was satisfied that the cause of his death was drowning accidentally. He signed a death certificate for that effect and released Kopechne's body to his family without ordering an autopsy; the funeral took place on Tuesday, July 22, in Plymouth, Pennsylvania. Then, on September 18, District Attorney Edmund Dinis attempted to secure the excavation of Kopechne's body for a late autopsy, citing the blood found on Kopechne's long-sleeved blouse and in his mouth and nose, "which may or may not be consistent with death by drowning. "The discovery of reported blood occurred when his clothes were given to the authorities by the funeral director.
Judge Bernard Brominski, of the Pleas of Luzerne County General Court, Pennsylvania, has a hearing on request on October 20-21. The request was opposed by Kopechne's parents. Forensic pathologist Werner Spitz gave testimony on behalf of Joseph and Gwen Kopechne that autopsy was not necessary and the available evidence was sufficient to conclude that Kopechne died of drowning. Finally, Judge Brominski decided against the excavation on December 10, saying that "no evidence" that "anything other than drowning has caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne."
Checkout
An examination of Kopechne's death was held in Edgartown in January 1970. At the request of Kennedy's lawyer, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ordered him to do so secretly. The 763 page transcript of the examination was released four months later. Judge James A. Boyle led the examination. The following conclusions are released in the inspection report:
- The accident happened "between 11:30 on July 18 and 1:00 on July 19."
- "Kopechne and Kennedy are not not intending to drive to the ferry slip and their turn to Dike Road has been intentional."
- "The twenty miles per hour speed that Kennedy declared to operate the car as big as his Oldsmobile would at least be negligent and possibly desperate."
- "For some unseen reason from Kennedy's testimony, he failed to be careful when he approached the bridge."
- "There is a possible cause for believing that Edward M. Kennedy operates his motor vehicle inattentive... and that such an operation seems to have caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne."
Under Massachusetts law, Boyle found "probable cause" that Kennedy had committed a crime and could issue an arrest warrant, but he did not. Regardless of Boyle's conclusion, Dinis chose not to sue Kennedy for premeditated murder.
The Kopechne family did not file a lawsuit against Kennedy but received a $ 90,904 payment from him personally and $ 50,000 from his insurance company. The Kopechnes then explained their decision not to take legal action by saying, "We thought people would think we were looking for blood money."
Grand jury
On April 6, 1970, the grand jury of County Dukes gathered in a special session to investigate the death of Kopechne. Judge Wilfred Paquet instructed the jury members that they could consider only the things brought to their attention by the high court, the district attorney, or their personal knowledge. Citing the orders of the Supreme Judicial Court, Paquet informed the jury that they could not see evidence or report from Boyle's examination, which was still confiscated. Dinis, who had attended the examination and looked at Boyle's report, told the Grand Jury that there was not enough evidence to indict Kennedy on charges of murder, perjury or dangerous driving. The grand jury summoned four witnesses who had not testified on the examination: they testified for a total of 20 minutes, but no charges were issued.
Hearing fatal accident
On July 23, 1969, the registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles notified Kennedy that his license would be suspended until a court hearing could be held about the accident. The suspension was required by Massachusetts law for any fatal motor accidents if there were no witnesses. The in-camera trial was held on May 18, 1970. It was found that "surgery is too fast for existing conditions." On May 27, the registrar told Kennedy in a letter that "I can not find that fatal accident in which the motor vehicle you control is involved, without serious error on your part" and thus the driver's license is suspended for a further six months.
Joan Kennedy suffered a miscarriage
Kennedy's wife, Joan, was pregnant at the time of the incident. Although she was confined to bed due to two previous miscarriages, she attended Kopechne's funeral and stood beside Ted in court three days later. Soon after, he had a third miscarriage, which he blamed on the Chappaquiddick incident.
Another interpretation of the evidence
The episode of the BBC's Inside Story, Chappaquiddick, was broadcast on the 25th anniversary of Kopechne's death, proposing the theory that Kennedy and Kopechne had left a party in Kennedy's car, but when Kennedy saw the unemployed cop in his patrol car, he got out of the car, afraid of the political consequences of being discovered by the police late at night with an attractive woman. According to his theory, Kennedy then returned to the party, and Kopechne, unknown to both the big car and the local area, drove the wrong way and fell off the bridge. The episode stated that the explanation would explain the lack of Kennedy's attention the next morning, as he was unaware of the accident, and for forensic evidence of Kopechne's inconsistent injury to him sitting in the passenger seat.
Writer Jack Olsen has previously proposed a similar theory in his book The Bridge at Chappaquiddick, published in the early 1970s. Olsen's book is the first complete test of the case. Olsen writes that the shorter Kopechne height (5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) in height, the legs (30 cm) shorter than Kennedy) could explain the possibility he did not even see the bridge, as he drove a Kennedy car into an unfamiliar street , at night, without external illumination, after he consumed some alcoholic drinks at the party attended by the two men. Olsen writes that Kopechne typically pilots a smaller Volkswagen model car, which is much lighter and easier to handle than Oldsmobile larger than Kennedy.
The latest explanation of the accident, based on the testimony of a new witness and photographs of the recent accident scene, is described by Bill Pinney in his book "Chappaquiddick Speaks", published in 2017. The photographs show a mark of a skid on the bridge the. , not the two skid marks that appear in the police images sent on inspection. Furthermore, a skid mark stops 10 feet from the edge of the bridge, indicating that Kennedy did not use his brakes. Pinney concluded that the vehicle was accelerated from the bridge to disguise previous accidents on Dike Rd. The fact that neither Kennedy nor Mary Jo had the slightest scratches, though no seat belts, showed that no one was in the vehicle when leaving the bridge. The scenario is consistent with the evidence that (a) Kennedy and Mary Jo left the cottage at around 11:15 pm at Oldsmobile Kennedy, (b) the witness was overtaken at high speed by Kennedy's rented Valiant at 11:35, along Dike Rd to the bridge, (c) three a phone call is charged to Kennedy's credit card made by Kennedy from the lodge around midnight and (d) Oldsmobile Kennedy looks (and part of a memorized number) by a police officer who is off duty at 12:40 heading along Dike Rd to the bridge. The inner vertical bender observed at the passenger door was inspected by the engineers and found to be consistent with ground accidents and inconsistent with low-speed impact with water.
Legacy
This case evoked Kennedy's many sarcasm. For example, Time was immediately reported after the incident that "One sick joke has visualized a Democrat who asked about Nixon during the 1972 presidential campaign:" Will you let this guy sell used cars? "Answer:" Yes, but I sure will not let Teddy drive it. "A mock ad in the National Lampoon magazine shows a floating Volkswagen Beetle - a parody of a well-known Volkswagen advertisement that shows that the bottom of the vehicle is sealed so well that it will float on the water - with the statement that Kennedy will elected president if he drove the Beetle that night, the satire generated legal action by Volkswagen, claiming unauthorized use of its trademark.
Following his televised July 25 speech about the incident, supporters responded with phone calls and telegrams to newspapers and to the Kennedy family. They strongly supported the remaining in the office, and he was re-elected in 1970, with 62% of the vote, a margin of nearly half a million votes. Nevertheless, the incident greatly damaged his reputation and national reputation for judgment; an analyst asked, "Can we really believe it if the Russians come with ice caps? Can he make a split-second decision that astronauts have to make when landing on the moon?" Prior to Chappaquiddick, a public opinion poll showed that a large majority expected Kennedy to run for president in 1972. After the incident, he promised not to run in 1972 and refused to serve as George McGovern's friend that year. In 1974, he promised not to run in 1976, partly due to renewed media interest in Chappaquiddick.
In late 1979, Kennedy finally announced his candidacy for the presidency when he challenged President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination for the 1980 elections. On November 4, 1979, CBS broadcast a special television hour, presented by Roger Mudd, titled Teddy >. The program consists of interviews with Kennedy interspersed with visual material. Most of the events were aimed at the Chappaquiddick incident. During the interview, Mudd asked Kennedy repeatedly about the incident and at one point directly accused him of lying. During the interview, Kennedy also gave what the author described as an "incoherent and repetitive" answer to the question, "Why do you want to be President?" He called the American-backed Iranian Shah "one of the most violent regimes in the history of mankind." This program caused serious political damage to Kennedy.
Carter alluded to Chappaquiddick's incident twice in five days, after stating that he did not "panic in a crisis." Kennedy lost his Democratic nomination to Carter, who lost the election to Ronald Reagan by a landslide, but Kennedy remained a senator until his death in 2009. He won all seven elections for the US Senate after the incident.
After Kennedy's death, Ed Klein, an editor for The New York Times Magazine and an American writer, tabloid writer, and gossip columnist who had written about Kennedy, claimed that Kennedy asked the people he met, Have you heard a new joke about Chappaquiddick? "Klein also said," It's not that he does not feel sorry for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but he still always sees the other side of everything and his silly side too. "
The Dike Bridge becomes an unwelcome tourist attraction and a souvenir hunter object.
In an interview with Nance Lyons, dated 2008 and conducted by Edward M. Kennedy Institute, former member of the Boiler Room team stated that the women present at Chappaquiddick had suffered both professionally and personally.
In popular culture
This incident is the main subject of the movie John Curran Chappaquiddick . This fictional incident in the novel Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates.
Danny Devito's character, Frank Reynolds in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia claimed to have played a leading role in the event.
Note
References
Source
Further reading
External links
- FBI Chappaquiddick investigation file
- Chappaquiddick Request - Boston.com
- The address of Edward M. Kennedy for the Massachusetts Society at Chappaquiddick, broadcast nationally, from Joseph P. Kennedy's house, on July 25, 1969
- Photos of the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident - New Haven List
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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