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

reply to post by jimmyx


www.dailymail.co.uk...

Mercedes faces ban because coolant causes cars to explode on impact.

reply to post by GrantedBail


He said he was going about 100mph when he clipped the curb and lost control and started doing donuts. He was probably mentioning sparks coming off the car as it looks like when he hit the curb he shredded his tire off the front passenger side dropping the car onto the exposed rim.

ETA: losing that tire would have made it next to impossible for him to regain control at 100mph. If he had been on a more open road he may have spun out and decelerated coming to a stop safely, however there was far to many things for him to impact on that road. It's very fortunate the tree stopped him and he didn't careen into one of those houses.

reply to post by EViLKoNCEPTz


Wow, what a horrible accident. It also appears he was going home and not leaving for work, seeing how he came from Santa Monica blvd. I wonder why he was going so fast?? Maybe he was just wasted?

this story smells so bad...

it wreaks to high heaven....

Where do I live again? I swear I was in the US of A.

Originally posted by ugie1028
this story smells so bad...

it wreaks to high heaven....

Where do I live again? I swear I was in the US of A.

What smells about it?

A man seen by cameras as travelling in excess of 100 mph loses control and hits a tree with a car that may be prone to explode during front end collisions.

Seems pretty much open and closed to me.

Originally posted by JBA2848
The cops got him on video flying past them.

edit on 19-6-2013 by JBA2848 because: (no reason given)

This video just does not seem right. They caught him on camera just couple block from the crash and did not hear the crash or see the explosion? Some thing seems strange about that to me. And the car drove around for four minutes before pulling up at the scene. From a three thousand feet a way?

goo.gl...

reply to post by JBA2848


cops are on it in seconds after someone runs a red light at that speed...it took him more than 2 minutes just to start the pursuit??? we are not getting enough info on this....seems a bit disjointed.

reply to post by GrantedBail


Yes it was a horrendous accident which could have been much worse if the tree hadn't stopped him from hitting a home. My guess about why he was speeding? He was probably tired and may have dozed off allowing his foot to depress the accelerator, either he snapped back awake and realized it and tried to brake hard losing control or he simply drifted into the curb and the curb impact caused the car to lose control. He may or may not have been intoxicated as well. The damage to the front of the vehicle is consistent with a high speed impact with a tree or telephone pole. I've seen car's cut in half from hitting trees or poles at 60mph. It doesn't sound like 60 would be all that bad of an accident but its the kinetic energy from the instant deceleration that causes so much damage.

reply to post by JBA2848


That video is highly edited. The cop probably wasn't in the vehicle when the car passed and had to get in, radio dispatch and then locate the vehicle. Cops aren't psychic and can't teleport back into their cruisers. Find an unedited dash cam video and I'd be willing to bet you see the camera jostle as the officer gets back in his cruiser. Just because you hear them on cam doesn't mean they were in the vehicle, they wear wireless microphones on their uniforms which record to the same source as the video from the dash cam.

reply to post by JBA2848


You seem to be under the mistaken impression that this is a police cam. It isn't. It is a paparazzi cam.

After reviewing yesterday's feeds and reading all the comments about the Michael Hastings crash we thought it would be a good idea for our photographer to get all his raw footage together including the dash-cam footage and put it aside. He mentioned to us in our meeting that he was close to the story because he was working a lead on the Justin Bieber crash on Sunset Blvd.

The lead turned out to be nothing and he then drove to the intersection of Santa Monica & Vista to do some computer work before heading in for the night. When leaving that intersection he said that he noticed he'd made a mistake on what he was working on. (K-9 Deployed YouTube Feed) He then pulled into the gas station at Highland & Santa Monica Blvd to fix the problem. All of our work vehicles are equipped with dash-cams. Out of pure luck......his dash-cam caught a Mercedes Benz at a high rate of speed run the red light travelling south on Highland. Melrose is just a few blocks away and impact took place just seconds after.

He said he did not see the car run the red light. When leaving the parking lot he headed east on Santa Monica Blvd. 30 seconds after leaving the gas station parking lot, the "call" hits the radios. It was a total of 4 minutes from the time the car was caught on dash-cam to when he saw the flames and shortly after arrived on scene and asks about the driver to the homeowner with the water hose.

From the youtube link.

reply to post by jimmyx


You're also basing your timing and assumptions on a highly edited video that even removed the identifying information, timer, clock etc from the video frames. You have no idea if it was really 2:30 minutes or 23 seconds. You should really look for the unedited video before making assumptions based around an edited video being accurate. The question is "why did the person edit the video? What was their motive behind removing the camera information from the frame?"

reply to post by MichaelPMaccabee


And that explains it it's not even a cop.

reply to post by MichaelPMaccabee


Good catch on it not being a cop. But even with it be some one else. It is still strange. At the speed the car passed the video camera it would have been less the thirty seconds when it hit the tree. The car was still sitting in the parking lot at two minutes. When he returned to that corner you could see how visible the flames were. The person in that car had to of heard and seen what happened so close to where he was sitting. The crash threw the engine a hundred feet from the car at least. That is not a little crash.

Originally posted by JBA2848
reply to post by MichaelPMaccabee

 

Good catch on it not being a cop. But even with it be some one else. It is still strange. At the speed the car passed the video camera it would have been less the thirty seconds when it hit the tree. The car was still sitting in the parking lot at two minutes. When he returned to that corner you could see how visible the flames were. The person in that car had to of heard and seen what happened so close to where he was sitting.

So you are faulting the guy for not seeing a car crash when he wasn't expecting to see the car crash?

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by JBA2848


He may not have been in his car. Could have been inside a convenience store purchasing something or using the restroom, which would explain why he edited it down cuz it was just video of the road and nothing of interest.

reply to post by JBA2848


As others have already pointed out, this is an extended version of the video I posted back here - it's not a cop dash cam but whoever this "loudlabs" fellow is.

It's also conclusive evidence the driver was speeding excessively.

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
reply to post by JBA2848

 

As others have already pointed out, this is an extended version of the video I posted back here - it's not a cop dash cam but whoever this "loudlabs" fellow is.

It's also conclusive evidence the driver was speeding excessively.

The driver or the car?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I cannot confirm this ... 'bottoming out' theory of yours.

Newer cars don't bottom out so easily, especially premium models.

I was driving about 145 mph in a 97 Eclipse Spyder GS-T with the top down. The road had bumps. The car stuck to the road as if it was on rails. There was no bottoming out. There was no feeling of discomfort or even a hint of losing control.

BUT, I have had cars bottom out. Ones with worn out suspensions. I've been in vehicles with poor handling and felt dangerous about 55, usually do to worn out suspension.

I've also been young and dumb, and hit a curb at around 15-20 mph in a parking lot, ripped the curb out of the ground, and all that happened to the vehicle was two ripped tires and a slightly bent lip on one of the rims ... in a very low sports car (RX-7). I didn't even damage the nose, nor was I stuck on the curb or in the grass the curb surrounded. I've also driven this car >100 mph and also didn't experience any loss of control situations from bumps or dips.



I'm not saying this isn't a freak accident.



I can see from the videos people have posted, the ground was wet. I don't discount the witness testimony.

I do have questions about lack of damage to the tree and the position of the nose of the car being past the tree. The localization and intensity of the burn, the lack of real spread of the burn to the grass (possibly being from everything being wet/damp?).

I'm surprised there hasn't been people saying drone strike yet :p


What I am surprised about is the number of people who act like being out at 04:30 is uncommon and problematic.

I've worked several jobs where they had shifts start around 5, usually factories with long shifts. I've worked in gas stations and fast food joints where you come in at times like that. Specifically some McDonald's that aren't 24/7 have you come in between 4-5 am to set up for the breakfast rush.

Very closed minded, closed world people who think early morning is late night, has to do with alcohol/other drugs, or you must be exhausted to the point of extreme drowsiness.

When I've worked overnight jobs, I used to drive around on my days off, to get out, listen to music, and enjoy myself. I was neither drowsy nor doing anything nefarious.


It is good to question everything. It is good to think outside what you are told. As long as you can do it and not get too caught up.

Could this have been something more? Possibly, there are some questionable things ... but all those could have simple explanations ... or not.

It he was traveling at 100 mph, if he was distracted or not the best at driving/reacting to loss of control situations, and he did hit a patch of wet road and some other unknown circumstance caused him to get 'squirrely', he may not have had the skill to maintain/recover control. He may have hit a different tree, continued, and just happened to come to rest next to that one.

Someone who lives nearby, which we have had people in the thread claim, could maybe check out the trees and street prior to this ending point to catch maybe a damaged curb and tree.



Our minds like to fill in blanks and create stories. We are influenced by what we surround ourselves with. If you are always studying conspiracies, your mind will search for those possibilities, whether they exist or not :p

reply to post by Foobler


Both. Car's can't speed without human input. And car's can't be remote controlled without a robot attached to the wheel and pedals, which would be noticeable. Car's can only be disabled remotely. If they could be controlled remotely Hollywood wouldn't spend thousands of dollar's modifying them for remote control in movies.

reply to post by FreeThinkerIdealist


If you look at the video of the scene posted by JBA you'll see a fresh gouge in the pavement where he lost the front passenger tire and dropped to the exposed rim lip. That's most likely from him hitting something which blew the tire, either the curb or debris in the road. The front of the car isn't past the tree the tree is wedged in the engine bay. Palm trees are also notorious for being incredibly strong, that's why they survive hurricanes when everything around them is destroyed. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the damage is consistent with the accident. That comes from year's of experience estimating damages for auto insurance claims. I've seen thousands of car accidents over the year's. If I was on scene I could tell you with 90% certainty the exact cause, and 100% as soon as I had copies of the tox panel.