LAPD has officially identified journalist Michael Hastings as the victim who died in Tuesday’s fatalcar crash on Highland Avenue in Los Angeles.
A statement released by the police on Saturday said, “the driver of the 2013 Mercedes C250 has been identified as 33-year-old Michael Mahon Hastings.”
“On June 18, 2013, around 4:20 a.m., a solo traffic collision occurred on Highland Avenue south of Melrose Avenue,” the statement said. “The driver of the vehicle was travelling southbound on Highland Avenue when he lost control and hit a tree. The vehicle burst into flames and the driver died at scene.”
The police also said an investigation into the crash was still ongoing by the West Traffic Detectives.
Also read: Michael Hastings Death: FBI Says Journalist Was Not Under Investigation
Conspiracy theories have been circulating the Internet about the investigative journalist’s suspicious crash. Though the FBI told TheWrap on Thursday that Hastings was not under investigation, KTLAreleased an email on Saturday that Hastings sent just 15 hours before he died which suggests otherwise.
Hastings — most famous for a 2010 Rolling Stone article that led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal — is said to have been working on a story about Jill Kelley’s lawsuit against the FBI and the Department of Defense at the time of his death.
Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who had know Hastings since 2008 when the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan, told KTLA that he received an email from Hastings on Monday around 1 p.m.
“On Monday morning, I woke up and I got an email, and it’s very panicked,” Biggs told KTLA.
Also read: BuzzFeed Journalist Michael Hastings Dead at 33
Here’s what the email — sent to Hastings’ colleagues and which Biggs was blind copied on — said:
Hey _________ – the Feds are interviewing my “close friends and associates.” Perhaps if the authorities arrive “BuzzFeed GQ”, er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues.
Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the radat (sic) for a bit.
All the best, and hope to see you all soon.
Michael
Here’s the KTLA video.
29839 Sta Margarita Pkwy, 
Videography by Barbara Rosenfeld 
June 23rd, 2013 @ 9:08 am
There is something very strange about Hasting’s death in a one car collision. What you see is a fireball and an explosion which causes the car’s engine to land 50 yards from the burning car. Was this an assassination?
June 23rd, 2013 @ 8:45 pm
He was coming out with a hitpiece on the CIA. He had enemies in the FBI and CIA, and one of McChrystal’s associates had threatened to kill him after he took down the General.
“The New York Daily News highlights the fact that Hastings had received multiple death threats before his demise.
Following his role in bringing down Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, Hastings was told by a McChrystal staffer, “We’ll hunt you down and kill you if we don’t like what you write.”
“Whenever I’d been reporting around groups of dudes whose job it was to kill people, one of them would usually mention that they were going to kill me,” said Hastings.
Hastings was renowned for being “only interested in writing stories someone didn’t want him to write — often his subjects,” according to Buzzflash editor Ben Smith, adding, “He knew that there are certain truths that nobody has an interest in speaking, ones that will make you both your subjects and their enemies uncomfortable. They’re stories that don’t get told because nobody in power has much of an interest in telling them.”
https://www.infowars.com/evidence-indicates-michael-hastings-was-assassinated/
This guy was Breitbarted just like SEAL Team 6, Donald Young, Nate Spencer, Larry Bland, Lt. Quarles Harris, Bill Gwatney, Vince Foster, Ron Brown, Senator Paul Wellstone, the DC Madam Jeannette Palfrey, RFK, JFK, numerous JFK witnesses, JFK Jr., Lee Harvey Oswald, MLK, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana, but as the Hilde”beast” would say, “WHAT DOES IT MATTER?!?”
June 24th, 2013 @ 6:18 am
I’m sure the L.A. police like faithful lapdogs of the administration will close the case of Hasting’s death as an unfortunate accident where it seems obvious that an explosion of some sort was the cause. It’s no secret that both foreign and domestic policy is carried out with the assistance of hit squads.