'The least of the Kennedy brothers'

This unfortunate anniversary would have passed unnoticed for me if it hadn't been for Roger's post over at XDA.

On this day in 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) got away with manslaughter when he drove his mother's car off the Dike Bridge and into shallow Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, due East of Martha's Vineyard, and killed Mary Jo Kopechne.

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[There's evidence that] Ms. Kopechne was alive for a while after the plunge, perhaps two hours, breathing air trapped in the back of the car, and suffocated rather than drowned when the CO2 level in the air pocket got too high.

[ ... ]

Valiant rescuer Kennedy walked back from the accident passing two houses with people in them and their lights on to the place where the party (six single women, six married men, plenty of alcohol) had taken place, but did not report the accident to police for at least 11 hours. Neither Ted Kennedy, the least of the Kennedy brothers, nor any of Kennedy's friends at the party thought twice, apparently, about leaving Ms. Kopechne in the water for that long. Prompt notification of the proper authorities might well have saved her.

The shame belongs not just to Kennedy, but to the voters of Massachusetts.