Journalist Michael Hastings dies in L.A. car crash (Single car crash??)

reply to post by GrantedBail


The pole it hit is behind the camera in the parking area where the car came from. The part behind the car is what was left of the front frame and the engine and transmission are just off the photo the left sitting in the water 250' from where the car came to rest and just over 300' from point of impact. That photo is from an insurance claim of mine from last fall. The driver was showing off in the parking lot hit some sand and lost control the car spun out and hit the pole just in front of the driver's door and behind the wheel well. It sliced the frame in half and the wooden telephone pole remained standing and intact and only had minor damage from the car. It didn't even crack the pole it left a scuff mark and a few dents in the wood.

ETA: if you zoom in the image you'll see a red/orange marker right at the edge of the frame, the engine and transmission are there. That marker is a dayglo orange evidence marker from the police dept.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


The front of that car looks sheered off. It doesn't look like it is the same kind of accident. Hastings's car came to a rest at the palm tree. A true head on collision. According to the Hispanic eye witness Michaels car was bottoming out and there was fire before the collision. Could that be because the piece we saw several feet away was dragging on the ground BEFORE impact.

Look, I am no mechanic. I am just going by what I have read and heard, and seen with my own eyes. As well as just a little bit of critical thinking.

On edit: And it sure doesn't look like it exploded or caught on fire after everything disconnected from the gas tank and was pouring petrol on hot wires. Just sayin....

reply to post by GrantedBail


I think the witness was seeing the sparks coming off of the blown front passenger tire where the rim was riding on the pavement. I showed that image because the impact was slower and from the side as the car was losing momentum from skidding sideways thru the parking area. The other pictures I won't show because the deceased 16 year old driver and his 13 year old passenger are visible or partially visible. I got the call for the claim from the parents of the driver less than 2 hours after the accident and it was only 30 minutes from me at the beach, so both bodies where still on scene. 100 mph head on would have turned that Honda into an unrecognizable pile of scrap. That Mercedes held up rather well for the type and speed of impact. I have another photo of a 2012 Mercedes S600 that hit a palm tree head on at 120 where the tree is inside the passenger compartment and the front of the car is Y'd open from the tree cutting into it. The engine from that Mercedes was behind the car but only a few feet because it was pushed backwards instead of catapulted out the front.

Whatever happened with Hastings car started with a blown front passenger tire at high speed causing the car to careen out of control and swerve across from the right lane to the trees on the left prior to impact. In the video of the scene where the car is on fire still you can see a fresh gouge in the pavement from the rim of the car and the car itself you can see the twisted remains of the tire sticking upwards on fire which would indicate the tire was severely damaged prior to impact. Regardless of the cause the car really did hit that tree. The cause however could be anything from DUI, falling asleep, someone tampering with the brakes(loosening bleeder screw, cutting brake line, draining brake fluid) tampering with the throttle cable so it couldn't decelerate after a certain speed, any number of things. A few things it wasn't was a drone strike, a hellfire missile would have left the car unrecognizable and would have left more evidence of an explosion prior to point of impact, there was no vehicle following him when he blew the redlight at the intersection, and a bomb would have left more evidence of the blast prior to impact. That leaves a pure accident or someone tampering with the mechanics of the car.

The worst accident in NASCAR history happened at under 100 mph - slower than this accident occurred at so wouldn't be to concerned about where the engine and transmission ended up - you'd be surprised at what can happen in an accident with a street car at 100 mph.

Do i think the guy was jacked up by the CIA, FBI or NSA - uh yup.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


Well I don't think that I ever mentioned nor did I even entertain the idea of a drone strike. I never went there.

When I first posted this story, there were few facts. As they rolled in, I assimilated them. Trust and believe, I was suspicious from the beginning. But I took in and processed the info that was presented.

So we now have a video of allegedly Hastings blowing throw a red light at a high rate of speed. I took that into consideration, however I am going to take issue with the 100 miles an hour. There was no way to determine that, that is a guesstimate. But I will give you, he was going fast.

Next: Here is the part I am still confused about. The Hispanic eye-witness stated he saw the car going "fast, fast, fast" on "Santa Monica". Well Santa Monica runs East and West and is several blocks from the crash. So I am a little unclear what the witness was speaking of. Was Hastings traveling on Santa Monica and made a left onto Highland...OR was he on Highland the whole time and just blew past Santa Monica Blvd??

Furthermore, the man hit a meridian, and what appears to be some kind of cage that was protecting something. Also you make the claim that he jacked up his tire. It seems to me that these events would have slowed the car down a little.

Here is another thing that makes me suspicious: Michael blew through a red light...right?? Maybe he couldn't stop?? Yes, of course there could be other explanations, and I am more than willing to entertain those, but let's start with suspicion and work our way backwards, calmly. Shall we?? Cuz there are about a hundred reasons to question this man's death.

reply to post by GrantedBail


The drone comment was just in general as I've seen it thrown out a few times. From the video of him blowing the light I gave a conservative estimate of 100 mph, it actually looks like he's going a little faster than 100. If I can find the unedited hi res footage of that I can use Google Earth and measure the distance between the lines on either side of the intersection and come up with a solid number based on the distance and time it took to pass from one to the other. He was going well past the 40 mph limit and above 80 mph based on how fast cars doing 80 on the interstate look. He was hauling ass in the triple digits. Probably somewhere between 100 and 120 or so. Going that fast and hitting some small object won't slow you more than a few mph if it even has an effect on speed. The weight and forward momentum of the vehicle keeps its speed up. That's why driving that fast is so dangerous. He took out a fire hydrant or water main as well, I'm guessing water main due to lack of pressure, fire hydrants usually spray 20 or so feet into the air. Even if he hit something and slowed to say 85 mph that's still fast enough to do the damage you see. Going from 85 or 100 to 0 instantly when you impact something puts a on of G force on anything that can wiggle even a tiny bit. The inertia of the forward momentum is transferred to anything that can move at all. It'll snap bolts, twist metal, break bones and turns organs into mush. Think of it like dropping an egg if you cushion the impact the egg will survive or crack a tiny bit of you let it come to a sudden stop upon impact it will explode and throw pieces of shell and globs of yolk and white up into the air, the farther it drops and more momentum it can gain the higher the shell and inside will splatter.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


Look, I am no engineer nor do I have a degree in physics. So the scenario and it's effects that you just described are not discernible to me. But what I gathered from your paragraph was that you made several assumptions in your calculations, that I don't believe are derived from the facts that are known at this point.

Secondly, we really need to find out if Mr. Hastings was blazing down Santa Monica and made a left onto Highland or was he on Highland the whole time. I think that is real important.

And about him running the light. He may have not been able to slow down or he could have just been being young and dumb in a fast car.

I'm guessing the Mercedes was a rental given he didn't live in the area and was visiting. People get fast rentals and run them ragged all the time since they aren't responsible for paying for maintenance. But like I said someone could have tampered with his car and bled brake fluid out or set a device to lock the throttle cable open once it passed a certain point. He could have been drugged and fallen unconscious. Any number of things, but without evidence of that and the fact high speed single vehicle accidents involving younger males aren't all that uncommon logic dictates it was an accident until more evidence of something else comes out. If this was the first time an accident like this ever occurred I would be more suspicious but given they happen on a daily basis all over the world it's only slightly suspicious because he was a journalist. If this was anyone else I guarantee you wouldn't have given it a second thought and just said "What a moron for driving so fast"

reply to post by GrantedBail


If I'm not mistaken the video of him running the light was him crossing Santa Monica on Highland.

And no they aren't assumptions they're educated guesses based on 10 years of experience investigating automobile accidents as an insurance adjuster. We write our own accident reports separate from the police for our company's. I've had training in determining speed based on skid marks, impact damage, distance traveled in amount of time if there's video available, and the effects of speed on the vehicle and passenger's when the sudden deceleration at impact occurs.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


No, he has a home just a few blocks from the accident. If you scroll back, I think it is in the first 3 pages of this thread someone actually gives his cross streets. From that info I was able to find a google map that would show whether Michael was coming home or leaving. I wanted to try to figure out if he was just leaving for work or was he just coming home. He had a new SLK Mercedes. But that was my thought as well in the beginning.

I had read an article in a Vermont magazine, where Michael is from, and it stated that he had moved to New York to be close to Buzzfeed. However, I later learned that he also had a home in Los Angeles as well. These are things I have learned through this thread.

You kind of have to read the whole thing to get where I am coming from.


But, with trepidation, I will say this: I watched an interview with him on Young Turks earlier today, it was a show that took place maybe a few months ago. His speech was erratic, he seemed very jumpy and paranoid, and if I didn't know any better, he seemed like he was on something. Don't take that to the bank. I am just expressing what my impression was.

On edit: He really wasn't a "kid". He was 33 and a very serious, committed and professional individual. So, for someone to tell me he was "hotdoggin" on the side roads cuz he was young??? Well, I am not going to buy that.


Cheers!

reply to post by GrantedBail


I've been following all 14 pages. If he owned an SLK but was driving a C250 it was either a loaner while his was in for repair or maintenance or a rental, probably a loaner from the dealership. I'm going to see if I can use the crappy YouTube video of him running the light and determine his exact speed. I don't know how well I'll be able to spot the white lines at either side of the intersection though, which is why I'd prefer a hi res video at that angle. I'll also see if I can find out which way he was heading, to or from home. Somebody said he was traveling towards his house earlier in the thread, but I'll see if I can verify that.

Originally posted by GrantedBail

On edit: He really wasn't a "kid". He was 33 and a very serious, committed and professional individual. So, for someone to tell me he was "hotdoggin" on the side roads cuz he was young??? Well, I am not going to buy that.

Plus he stated in his article/book on McChrystal that he didn't drink. Hadn't touched a drop since he was a teenager.

reply to post by GrantedBail


I'm 30 and I still ride my motorcycle well over 100 mph all the time. I have a wife, 2 sons and a career as well. Guy's with fast vehicle's tend to drive fast, especially if they are adrenaline junkies, which he clearly was.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


I could be wrong on the model. My data wasn't from anywhere other than comparing the back part of the vehicle and it's rims. The reason I did that was because someone at another website was trying to say it was an early model Nissan or some such bullpuckey. I knew he had a Mercedes from cruising around the internet. I just tried to match up the model from the back part of the car.

I do know that he owned a Mercedes late model.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


I get that EVIL. Yes, even women are addicted to adrenaline. It's just we don't do it on a residential street. You know what I am saying??

And I am not trying to say that I drive a hundred miles an hour for thrills. I get my thrills in other ways but I would hope, since we both have kids, we are cognizant of our actions, and try to be a little bit responsible.

plus he was helping out with this Project PM most likely which alone is a pretty good reason they'd want him dead. The info on there has been gleaned from files hacked from Stratfor.

reply to post by GrantedBail


The one he crashed in was a newer Mercedes C250. Mercedes uses similar rims based on trim package. The C250 is slightly larger than the SLK. SLK stands for Sport Light Compressor in German which has to do with the convertible hard top on the small frame sports car. The C250 is a mid-size sports coupe that comes in both hard top and convertible models, but its convertible has a soft top. The rear end on an SLK is odd looking due to the room needed in the trunk for the hard top to fold into. It's kind of boxy looking around the trunk area.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


Well thanks for that. I spent a good 20 minutes on the Mercedes Benz USA website trying to figure out which car it was. I am not an automobile aficionado cuz, you know, I am a girl and all.

So now we know for sure the model of car. That is good. Another fact

reply to post by GrantedBail


Yeah you would think us guys would be more responsible but we don't always think when we get a little speed under us. I get on one of my bikes and hit the interstate, if it's pretty clear and not a traffic jam I have s tendency to throttle up and go as fast as possible. I do a lot of things for the rush, going fast, fighting, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, jumping off of things, playing with guns and explosives, fishing for sharks, diving with sharks, etc. Hell my father is 57 and he drives his BMW fast all the time and likes to rip his e-brake and slide into the driveway just cuz he can. The risk of death is what makes us feel alive.

reply to post by GrantedBail


There's a pic somewhere from the accident where you can just make out the model on the trunk lid. Otherwise I'd only know it was a C class cuz they all look the same from the back.