July 26, 2007Mary Jo Kopechne would have been 67 years old today.
She died July 18, 1969, gasping for air in the backseat of an Oldsmobile that had been driven off Dyke Bridge into Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island.
The driver left Mary Jo behind to die alone after a night of drinking and partying.
His story was that he drove down Dyke Road by mistake, went off the bridge, attempted to rescue Ms Kopechne, failed, rested a bit, walked back to the party, rounded up his cousin and a friend, returned to the site, but they failed to rescue Mary Jo, so he swam back to his hotel.
He did not call the authorities to report the accident until the next morning, 10 hours later. Two fishermen had already discovered the car and Mary Jo's body had been recovered by this time.
Although unsuccessful in his attempt to blame the accident on Mary Jo, the driver did manage to get Dr. Robert Watt, his family doctor, to explain his patient's strange behavior by claiming the driver was in a state of shock and confusion and "possible concussion." (Dr. Watt later admitted that his diagnosis about the driver's post-accident memory loss had been based "on what the driver told him.")
Some had doubts.
At the inquest, Judge James Boyle pointed out that he could not understand how the driver managed to drive down Dyke Road by mistake since on the day of the accident, the driver had twice driven on Dyke Road to go to the beach. Getting to Dyke Road involved a 90-degree turn from a paved road onto a bumpy dirt-track.
Investigators found it difficult to understand:
1) why the driver was crossing Dyke Bridge when he said he was attempting to reach Edgartown which was in the opposite direction;
2) how the driver escaped from the car. When it was recovered from the water all the doors were locked and three of the windows were either open or smashed in. The driver, a large-framed 6 foot 2 inches tall, managed to get out of the car, why couldn't the much smaller Mary Jo?
3) why the driver did not seek help from any of the 4 houses -all occupied- that he passed on his way from the bridge back to the party (Pierre Malm and Rev. David Smith lived about 400 feet from the bridge, Fire Captain Foster Silva lived 150 yards from Lawrence Cottage, the party site)
The driver was unable to answer these questions.
Other questions went unanswered as well:
Why did the driver did not call the police while at the hotel?
Ross Richards had a conversation with him the following morning and described him as 'casual and at ease'.
Why did the driver make 17 long distance telephone calls during the hours he claimed to be "in shock" after the accident? (The calls were charged to his credit card)
What was the cause of death?
Dr. Donald Mills of Edgartown, wrote on the death certificate: "death by drowning".
John Farrar, the rescue diver who removed Mary Jo from the car, did not believe that she had drowned, but instead died by asphyxiation as the oxygen in the air she was breathing was used up and replaced with carbon dioxide. "She was alive, easily an hour, maybe two," he said.
Undertaker Eugene Frieh who prepared Mary Jo's body for burial agreed with Farrar.
There was no autopsy.
To drink and drive is a crime. To flee the scene of an accident is a crime. To fail to render aid to someone injured in an accident you caused is a crime. While sleeping around on your wife is not a crime, it does show questionable moral character.
The driver was found guilty of leaving the scene of the accident and received a suspended two-month jail term and one-year driving ban.
The driver was U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Had you or I gotten drunk and driven off a bridge, leaving a passenger to die while choosing not to report the accident, you or I would go to prison.
Kennedy went back to the U.S. Senate.
Rest In Peace, Mary Jo.
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