https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident

The Chappaquiddick incident (popularly known as Chappaquiddick)^[1][2][5] was a single-vehicle car accident that occurred on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts some time around midnight between Friday, July 18, and Saturday, July 19, 1969.^[6][7] The accident was caused by Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy's negligence and resulted in the death of his 28-year-old passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle.^{[8][5][9][10]}

Kennedy left a party on the island at 11:15 p.m. Friday, with Kopechne. He maintained his intent was to immediately take Kopechne to a ferry landing and return to Edgartown, but that he made a wrong turn onto a dirt road leading to a one-lane bridge. After his car skidded off the bridge into Poucha Pond, Kennedy swam free. He maintained he tried to rescue Kopechne from the submerged car, but could not. Her death could have happened any time between about 11:30 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday, as an off-duty deputy sheriff maintained he saw a car matching Kennedy's at 12:40 a.m. Kennedy left the scene and did not report the accident to police until after 10 a.m. Saturday. A diver recovered Kopechne's body from the car shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday.

At a July 25, 1969 court hearing, Kennedy pled guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended jail sentence. In a televised statement that same evening, he said his conduct immediately after the accident "made no sense to me at all", and that he regarded his failure to report the accident immediately as "indefensible". A January 5, 1970 judicial inquest concluded Kennedy and Kopechne did not intend to take the ferry, and that Kennedy intentionally turned toward the bridge, operating his vehicle negligently, if not recklessly, at too high a rate of speed for the hazard which the bridge posed in the dark. The judge stopped short of recommending charges, and a grand jury convened on April 6, 1970, returning no indictments. On May 27, 1970, a Registry of Motor Vehicles hearing resulted in Kennedy's driver's license being suspended for a total of sixteen months after the accident.

The Chappaquiddick incident became national news that influenced Kennedy's decision not to run for President in 1972 and 1976,^[5][9][10] and it was said to have undermined his chances of ever becoming President.^[11] Kennedy ultimately decided to enter the 1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries, but earned only 37.6% of the vote and lost the nomination to incumbent President Jimmy Carter. 

How many here think Trump could of faked an injury, put on a fake neck brace, committed the felonies Kennedy did here and then walked away to a 40 year overpaid gov job? And then be declared "the lion of the senate" What sad commentary on 2 separate justice systems.

That was a unique situation but it demonstrated the disparity and the way we don't apply justice fairly/evenly in our system.

One can make a case that a Ted Kennedy out of prison will serve society better than vice versa and his enormous positive contributions far outweigh this one, really bad incident which was totally from his excessive drinking and an accident(that was still not excusable).

What about justice for the family of this young lady?  Not sure if they forgave him or not but the bs element to the story always makes it harder to forgive the bs-er. 

Maybe, 99% of other people would have spent some time in prison?

But another way to look at this is how it damaged him politically for the rest of his life. Not in day to day interactions or how effective he was at his job but, absent this incident, most of us agree that he would have been elected president.

For most people, not being president isn't in the top 1,000 things that would lessen the satisfaction of our lives and achievements.

However, Ted Kennedy is not most people. Being president was surely something he had dreamed of for decades. Not just dreamed but had everything in place to do it. More than any other person in history, some advantages that would have made it VERY LIKELY for him to be elected president.

This incident took that away from him. It's impossible for the rest of us to appreciate how severe of a penalty this imposed on his career and psyche for the rest of his life. Far, far greater than a stint in prison.

So justice was served here, when you consider he did not really get away with it. Everybody knew what REALLY happened and that he was guilty. In the realm of public opinion, that determines the outcome of elections..........his credibility was obliterated because we knew about his blatant disregard  for respecting the life of another human being. 

Related to this was Hillary Clintons defeat in 2016.

This had to be even more devastating than for Kennedy.

We had her on the way to becoming the first female president in history in 2008.  Think about that.

"First female president!"  100 years from now, this is what she would have still be VERY famous for. Ever kid taught history(if thats what they do in a century) would know who she was.

We just cannot imagine how important this was.

Then Barrack Obama came out of nowhere and spoiled it and stole the storyline with "First black president"

And they ran against the 2 weakest candidates in history)McCain/Palin) so she KNOWS that she would have won.

She had to wait another 8 years, then her time REALLY came. She was the nominee and had everything pointing towards her being elected in the months ahead of the election. This is what makes it hurt so bad.............she EXPECTED it and believed that she DESERVED it. 

Then, the political rug was shockingly pulled out from under her by Donald Trump. 

None of us can appreciate how devastating this was to Hillary Clinton. Going from an assured position as one of the most famous people in American History to be honored for centuries, to ....................a big loser at the end of her career.

Regardless of the fake reasons to blame the results on(Russia) being sold to the rest of us, she dang well knows the realities of what happened and why it happened.

And to be beaten by the electoral college vs the popular vote made it even tougher. Her campaign messed up in the swing states/rust belt states, when democrats decided to NOT vote for her.

And to lose to Donald Trump of all people.

How much more demoralizing can it get?

So people that know she committed crimes related to her emails................should remember that it played into her NOT being elected, possibly THE reason for it was people knowing about what really happened, despite the justice department giving her a free pass.

So in the realm of public opinion that determines outcomes of elections..........justice was more than served.

get what you are saying about Ted K but but...he did not change. He continued drink.  party and eat excessively. He partied with various women {who were dumb enough to believe his crap} for decades. Do you remember the nephew who raped the girl in Florida and got away with that crime? guess whose house he was staying at and who he was out drinking with that nite....Ted Kennnedy.....when you look at the terrible mess our liberal cities are in I wonder how much good this evil person ever did.

Justice was served?   Not being president was punishment enough?  The man went on to live a life of privilege and celebrity while having a powerful voice in the senate.   His victim never really had a life at all.   And that amounts to justice?