Former NASCAR driver Candace Muzny 'accidentally drowns' in her Oklahoma home 3 days after release from jail
Former NASCAR driver Candace Muzny was found dead in her Oklahoma home just a few weeks after she was arrested and charged with assault over attacking a Vietnamese manicurist for not speaking English.
The 43-year-old Muzny was found dead inside the house on 10100 Block of Island View Drive, Oklahoma City, around 5 pm on Monday, February 17, after police responded to a call reporting that they had found a white female unresponsive in the home.
Muzny, who had competed in two races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, one in 2011 and one in 2012, made headlines last month after she allegedly slapped a nail salon worker, punched and threatened another with a knife, and then attacked a police officer over an argument.
She was reportedly getting a pedicure when one of the employees started speaking Vietnamese to another, which annoyed the former racer to the point she got into a physical altercation with them.
When a police officer responded to the scene and tried to take her into custody, her dog started biting the deputy's leg and she managed to strike him behind the ear with a pocket knife.
She was subsequently charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer, but later defended herself in an interview with Heavy and insisted she was not a racist.
"I asked her three times to stop speaking Vietnamese to me," she said. "I was paying with the American dollar. I think if you're speaking to an American who is a customer of yours, and you know they're not Vietnamese, it's rude to talk to them in a language they don't understand."
"She needs to get back to Vietnam. If she wants to live in America and serve Americans, she needs to speak the language they speak," she continued, adding that she was not a racist because she has "friends of all ethnicities."
Her death came three days after she was released from jail for the incident and just hours after she took to Facebook to pay tribute to fellow driver Katie Hagar, who died in December 2019.
"Every 10th of every second of every minute of every hour of every day I miss this beautiful gorgeous racecar driver, Fabricator. Welder, funny as all get out, talented, loving & compassionate & beautiful woman!" she wrote. "My Katie Hagar. My Best Friend! My Heart Shatters the earth for this Woman! My Heart Bleeds Tears of sadness bc she was the most beautiful race car driver ever!"
Police had initially suggested that Muzny's death was suspicious, but that there were no obvious signs of foul play. Officials with the medical examiner's office ruled on Wednesday, February 19, that there were no signs to suggest there had been a homicide and determined that her cause of death was an accidental drowning.