troy cricthley

[paul]

 
August 13, 2008 09:54am
AUSTRALIAN racer Troy Critchley, whose attempted burnout resulted in the deaths of six people, has avoided jail but still faces a huge civil lawsuit.

The Queensland-born, Texas-based Critchley was facing life in prison after being behind the wheel of a high-powered Corvette involved in the killer crash at a Tennessee charity event.

In the plea deal with Tennessee prosecutors and approved by the victims, the 37-year-old will be sentenced to 18 months of probation and a suspended one-year jail sentence.

He will only go to jail if he violates the probation.

Critchley is expected to appear in a Tennessee court on Thursday to formally consent to the deal.

It is a huge relief for Critchley, although he still faces a multi-million dollar civil suit launched by the family members of the six young locals killed and the others injured in the crash.

Nicknamed The Burnout King, Critchley generated worldwide headlines in June of last year, when his Corvette skidded out of control at the Cars for Kids charity event in the town of Selmer, Tennessee, and hurtled into the crowd.

He was attempting to perform one of his trademark burnouts.

Six spectators, aged 15 to 22, died and 22 other people, including a five-year-old boy, were injured.
In an interview with Australian 60 Minutes earlier this year Critchley said his memories of the crash would haunt him forever, but he does not know how to apologise to the victims.

"I don't know how I can ever say that I am sorry," he said in the interview.

"I will be sorry for the rest of my life."

Critchley was originally charged with six counts of felony vehicular homicide and 22 counts of reckless aggravated assault that could have sent him to jail for 90 years if convicted.

Under today's deal, the charges were dropped and replaced with 28 misdemeanor counts of reckless simple assault.

In a twist, it was the victims of the crash, who had criticised Critchley and the charity event's organisers in the days after the crash, that relented and called for the lenient plea deal.

District attorney general Michael Dunavant said lawyers representing the victims in the civil suits sent him a written request supporting "an offer to settle" the criminal charges.

The deal will fast-track the civil suits, which reportedly seek $US100 million ($A113 million) plus in damages from Critchley, his race team's owners, sponsors and officials of the city of Selmer.

"The proposed plea agreement would assist in the resolution of our clients' pending civil cases against these individuals and companies, and will help bring closure and healing to our clients, the most seriously injured and damaged victims of the event," the letter signed by the attorneys and victims states.

The plea deal sidesteps many of the obstacles facing the civil suits.

If Critchley was convicted of the original felony charges, he would face possible deportation to Australia, making it difficult to pursue the civil action.

The lesser misdemeanor charges will not place him in jeopardy of deportation.

The plea deal also allows the victims' lawyers expedited access to the case files compiled by Tennessee prosecutors, including witness statements, physical and photographic evidence and a report on the Corvette compiled by an automotive expert.

It allows Critchley to return to professional drag racing, but he must only perform exhibition burnouts on tracks "specifically designed and ordinarily and customarily used for drag car events".
The Selmer crash took place on a road with few adequate protective barriers for spectators.

The deal also allows for Critchley to travel abroad

[NR555]

I keep telling everyone; we'll have Troy back in exchange for the extradition of Wayne Carey...   

[Hoony]

this sort of Shit that Troy is facing in the USA makes me wild  , the blame surely rests on the organisers and cops who set the whole thing up without proper control measures in place. i hate the litigation system the yanks use, and sadly its being phased in here as well. what ever happened to copping it on the chin the aussie way when something went wrong and you knew the risks. i have heard of civil suits to motorcycling clubs because some Bloke wanted a slice of the organising club when he arsed up on his bike.

For forks sake it was an accident, and after watching the 60 minutes segment where the familys want his hide and blame him totally it is is so wrong. the poor bloke must be under so much stress. the Yanks need to get a big mirror and have a good look at themselves.

Apologies to our US forum friends for generalising.

[NR555]

Hoony - you're not wrong mate.  NSW is 2nd only to California in the world for % of people suing each other per head of population.

[Hoony]

sorry to highjack thread, what is wrong with your CZ at present to keep you away from Blue Rock?

[oldfart]

Hoony
            The  reality is he killed  6 spectators, They didn't come to the event to die 
He had a head rush and lost it big time.  He's not out of the woods by a long shot .
 

[Nathan S]

He didn't go to the event to kill people either. Sometimes shit just happens.... I saw the 60-Minutes interview and the mother that was calling for his blood made me genuinely sad - not because she'd lost two children (no matter how awful that is), but because you could tell that she felt that seeing Critchley bleed would ease her pain...
 
When it comes to the civil action, I'll be interested to see how hard they chase Critchley, and how hard they chase the local authorities... My guess is that they've worked out that he's not

There's little doubt that he made a mistake - but so too did many others, including (many of) the victims, and the powers-that-be that authorised the event.
If he's solely (or even primarily) responsible, then why do "we" bother with police/govt permission? If he's solely responsible, then many, many levels of govt bureaucracy are simply redundant, and we should all be allowed to do anything that we feel is right, provided we face the music if we get it wrong...

[paul]

i agree nathan the the oranizers ,the police ,all said the event was a go
and when the shit hits the fan they seam to be ducking for cover and passing the buck ,even so troy cricthley is a professional racer and he should of know from experience that car on that suburban street ,with those people so close is a disaster looking  for some were to happen   it a no win situation

[oldfart]

I'm simply pointing out that the moment he put the helmet on and planted his foot there is no turning back the clock .
As a professional he should of known better .

[firko]

I couldn't have put it better than Nathan. Troy Critchley was merely the hired performer that was putting on the display on a course that had been approved by the cops and city officials. Whoever let those people stand so close to an unpredictable 3000 hp race car doing a burnout had no idea of the consequences of such a vehicle getting out of control. On another tack, there is no way I'd let my kids stand so close to a blown race car doing its thing. Surely common sense should have told somebody that there was no room for error if something went wrong.
In a nutshell, Troy stuffed up by losing control of his car, the organisers stuffed up even more by not allowing room for a fork up and not having any safety barriers and the parents stuffed up by putting their kids in such a dangerous situation.

[Nitram]

That's right Firko, it sounds like they've all cocked-up.  But, with all due respect Hoony, you're drawing a long bow to suggest that the dead kids parents should just "cop it on the chin" in the traditional Aussie manner.  I don't know too many Aussie parents who could be so philosophical about a tragedy like this.

In regard to the civil proceedings, it seems from the original posting that the plaintiffs have taken aim at everyone involved, as you would expect.  No doubt at least some of the defendants will be insured, and the fault will be divvied up amongst the insurance companies.  If Critchley was uninsured, he'll no doubt end up bankrupt with his debts paid at a fraction of their value. But assuming he was insured, the insurer will pick up the tab, and he'll be able to put his money towards the mental health counsellors he's going to need to employ to keep his head and heart from imploding from the burden he's going to be carrying for the rest of his life.

A very sad incident all round.

Nitram 

[VMX247]

this was a town that organised an event and ended in pure tragedy and it will be done again, before our time is out. :'(

[Wombat]

Sad indeed, but is anyone truly surprised the stunt went wrong?
I'm sure he's done similar stunts a hundred times, but there's a very good chance of injury in all motorsport related activities.

Was it Mercedes Benz who pulled out of racing last Century following a nasty accident?
Multiple spectators were killed when a Merc engine flew out of a crashing race car and plowed through the crowd.
It's tragic, but when crowds sit/stand only metres from a high powered motor vehicle things can easily go pear shaped.

I'm surprised the rally car crowds (particularly the Europeans) aren't kept further back than they are.
Look at the speeds and look how close the crowds stand as they line the roads.
What's to stop Casey Stoners bike from cart wheeling into the stands at a GP?
I don't mean to be flippant here but the sign on the gate warns about these things.

I understand the families feelings for 'revenge' but what will it achieve?
I don't know how I'd react if it was my child; I imagine I'd want to kill someone - particularly the Driver.
But I doubt Critchley could be more sorry, and for the rest of his life I doubt an hour will pass without this event playing in his head.

 

[mainline]

1955 Le Mans, the Mercedes clipped an Austin Healey on the pit straight which was trying to avoid another car I think, and pretty much the whole Merc cartwheeled through the crowd and caught fire. 80 people killed.

If someone sat 20 children just on the outside of a mx track corner, and then asked you to go around it as fast and as spectacularly as you could, would you do it?

[666 SOS]

i have been following this event since it happened and most of what was on 60 minutes was aimed at familys lining up there civil suits.As a parent i really do feel for there loss BUT troy had been aproached by a group to do a demonstration burnout in a police sanctioned event wich had been run sucsessfully in past years.HE  voiced his concerns over the spectaters being in unsafe points on the burnout strip but was garenteed they would be moved back for his run  but in this rare out off control moment nothing but saftey barriers would have saved those people. In short one reparied patch in the road wich caused the car to break traction and spin off, Local police without a brain in there heads, stupid people standing in unsafe place, it was doomed before it began