Kennedy failed to report the incident to the authorities, Oooooops, until the car and Kopechne's body were discovered the next morning. The Kopechne parents said that they learned of their daughter's death from Ted Kennedy himself, and so he
says. Short note he never gave one dime to the Kopechnes for the death of their daughter. Not even a floral arrangement.
Well, it was before he reported his involvement to the authorities. Later the Kopechnes learned Kennedy had been the driver only from wire press releases some time later.
A week after the incident, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after causing injury. He received a two month suspended sentence, he went free the very same day. The bastard smiled at all of us. On a national television broadcast that night, Kennedy later said he was not driving under the influence of alcohol nor had he engaged in any immoral conduct with Kopechne, and so he says.
Questions remained about Kennedy's timeline of events that night, and so he says. About his actions after the accident, and so he says. I loved how he especially swam the marathon in the lake for 9 hours on end, as he was trying to dissipate the alcohol in his blood. Another one was the quality of the investigation, and so he says.
If it was you or I we would have served 20 years BUT its given to a powerful politician and family, and all "believed" in what he says. At least the events surrounding Kopechne's death damaged Kennedy's reputation to keep this varmint down. Its regarded as a major reason that he was never able to mount a successful campaign for President of the United States and forever damned him to a fixed post in the U.S. Senate.
AS I see it, its the American people who bore the sentence of this hypocrite for 47 years before God did us all a favor.