Hang-glider pilot involved in death of passenger swallowed the evidence

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.  We were talking at first about a tragic, avoidable incident, and one which would possibly scar the pilot for life.  Then we heard he was being detained by the police, and charged with obstruction of justice for hampering the investigation.

Now we hear the details: he is suspected of having swallowed the memory card of the onboard camera which was apparently filming the whole time and may point out what was the cause of this fatality.  This is unfortunately for the pilot turning into a farce, reminiscent of a Chief Inspector Clouseau investigation.  

Whatever sympathy I may have had for him has been pulverized by his actions.  He could have landed, cooperated with the authorities, shouldered his responsibility, and have been seen as a man who screwed up, but in a manner which we are all sympathetic with, in that "there but for the grace of God go I" way.  Instead, he is now seen as a buffoon, a criminal and a wholly unprofessional person and not worthy of our forbearance.  As he sits in a jail cell while the authorities await for this chapter in the investigation to, um, 'pass', no one except possibly his close loved ones can identify with him and now think that he should be absolved in some way, that this was a dumb accident.  If this reaction to the incident is reflective of his thought process, the manner in which he acts, it almost seems as if a tragedy of this sort was inevitable.