CA - Journalist Michael Hastings, tragic car accident or...?, Los Angeles, June 2013

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I searched around WS and did not find a thread dedicated to Michael Hastings. Mods, feel free to move this if needed.

FWIW, I usually stay away from claims of conspiracies...but wow!

Journalist Michael Hastings emailed colleagues, friends that he 'needed to go off the radar' just hours before he died in a fiery car crash


  • Hastings indicated the FBI were investigating him, saying they were interviewing his 'close friends and associates' and said he was onto a 'big story'
  • The journalist said he needed to 'go off the radar for a bit'
  • Hastings died about 15 hours after sending the email when his car smashed into a palm tree in LA
  • The FBI has denied Hastings was being investigated
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hours-died-fiery-car-crash.html#ixzz2X3WZgS9A
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
And it was a single car crush.
So I also find it suspicious.
 
I thought this was interesting. Did he intentionally blow through the red light, or was it a mechanical problem? I wonder what his BAL level was?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-radar-just-hours-died-fiery-car-crash.html

KTLA's staff photographer was on the scene soon after the crash and caught footage of the crash's fiery aftermath. He also saw footage that shows him speeding through a red light. According to Lane, there was no one in pursuit.

'There’s no cars that are following him,' Lane told KTLA. 'He flies by and 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds goes by… No cars are following him.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...hours-died-fiery-car-crash.html#ixzz2X3jUAhLX
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
I suppose he could have been paranoid and believed somebody followed him. Speeding, lost control, died. Or maybe he was not paranoid. Are you paranoid if they really are after you?
 
i wondered why no thread existed for this case last week.

he was an incredible journalist.

generally i put no stock in conspiracy theories either but i can't help but wonder about this situation. if ever a man had enemies in high places, hastings was the man. staff members of mcchrystal had told him straight up that if they didn't like his reporting, they'd hunt him down and kill him. he was working on a story regarding patreus and also one related to the nsa.

he had emailed his boss and others that the fbi was investigating him and i'm sure most have heard the claims made by the wiki leaks folks that he had sought out the help of their attorney.

the video shows him speeding, no one following that i can see. that said, there are troubling issues. eyewitnesses claimed they heard an explosion. they also did not see him attempt to stop. no skid marks. the transmission was a great distance away from the car (something mercedes benz experts have claimed is impossible), and the damage to the car was primarily in the rear...strange since it hit a tree head on.

my first thought was that he was either under the influence or committed suicide. but i really have doubts about this. i think it's possible this man was murdered.
 
At least in theory, the car could have been tampered with. Breaks cut, that sort of thing.
 
Why is there video before the accident? Most reporters here don't just film streets for no reason...pursuits yes; regular traffic? Even blowing a red?

Dunno...but that's what I'm wondering about.

Best-
Herding Cats
 
FWIW, I have a relative who works for Mercedes. He's seen the results of several high speed single and multiple car accidents, some with major injuries, some without, and none with deaths of an occupant (except one car that flipped several times, and I think that one was a convertible). None of the cars caught on fire, and certainly none of them burned in the inferno type looking thing this car seems to be engulfed in.
 
I suppose he could have been paranoid and believed somebody followed him. Speeding, lost control, died. Or maybe he was not paranoid. Are you paranoid if they really are after you?

He may have already been dead.
 
FWIW, I have a relative who works for Mercedes. He's seen the results of several high speed single and multiple car accidents, some with major injuries, some without, and none with deaths of an occupant (except one car that flipped several times, and I think that one was a convertible). None of the cars caught on fire, and certainly none of them burned in the inferno type looking thing this car seems to be engulfed in.

I agree. Bursting into flames seems rather unusual for Mercedes.
They are sturdy cars.
 
Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke told The Huffington Post that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack."


"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."

"So if there were a cyber attack on the car -- and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_3492339.html
 
Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke told The Huffington Post that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack."


"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."

"So if there were a cyber attack on the car -- and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_3492339.html

That is freakin scary!
 
The car hacking seems plausable to me. This sounds like powerful people who do whatever it takes to hide their crimes. Used to be the mafia who did stuff like that. Now, it's the federal government. When will people wake up and realize they've been conned?
MOO


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That is freakin scary!

That does it. Poof me back to horse and buggy days. Nobody ever cyber attacked a horse to my knowledge.



Re a Mercedes not catching on fire too often: I'm guessing the engine doesn't fly a considerable distance out of the vehicle too often either?
 
Counter-terrorism Richard Clarke told The Huffington Post that what is known about the single-vehicle crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack."


"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."

"So if there were a cyber attack on the car -- and I'm not saying there was," Clarke added, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-car-hacked_n_3492339.html

Accelerator jam - steering loss and alter control maybe?
No one else around to be 'in the way' or to see the incident?
Rear explosion?
Its possible :(

Its being developed elsewhere, but i have seen a video about this regarding another accident.
But they're developing - and soon, all you need is an iPhone app to do it.

cyber controlled car link
 
I'm voting car hacking...this was imo no coincidence.
 

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