Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator
Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts drove a vehicle off a
wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond.

Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-
old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not.

The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.

There is speculation that he used his considerable influence to
avoid more serious charges that could have resulted from the
episode.

Although the incident on Chappaquiddick Island helped to derail 
his presidential hopes, Kennedy continued to serve as a U.S.
senator of Massachusetts into the 21st century. He died in 2009.

Edward “Ted” Kennedy (born February 22, 1932,
Boston, Massachusetts; died August 25, 2009).