Video: '1969 report on Ted Kennedy's accident at Chappaquiddick Island'

(Friday, July 18, 1969, approximately 11:30 p.m. EDT; during the Chappaquiddick incident) — U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the 37-year-old younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (both of whom were recently assassinated), drove an Oldsmobile 88 automobile off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts late this evening, leading to the death of his female companion, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.

Kennedy was able to escape, but Kohechne, a passenger in the vehicle, drowned.

Video: 'Investigative Reports, Chappaquiddick [with Bill Kurtis]'

Kennedy and Kopechne had just left a party attended by six older men, five of whom were married, and six single women in their twenties who had served on Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign.

According to Kennedy’s testimony, he accidentally drove his car off the one-lane bridge and into the tide-swept Poucha Pond. He swam free, left the scene, and did not report the accident to the police for ten hours; Kopechne died inside the fully submerged car.

Video: 'Yesteryear 1969 Part 3' (Chappaquiddick incident at 0:00)

The car with Kopechne’s body inside was recovered by a diver the next day, minutes before Kennedy reported the accident to the police.

Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury and later received a two-month suspended jail sentence.