Eyewitness To Hastings Crash Reported “Giant Explosion”


Federal agency now investigating death of Rolling Stone journalist

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
August 5, 2013

Newly released transcripts of 911 calls made by eyewitnesses to the fatal crash of Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings describe the vehicle blowing up, with one noting that a “giant explosion” took place during the incident.

The reports are consistent with recently uncovered surveillance footage that appears to show the journalist’s Mercedes suffering several explosions before crashing into a tree.

After initially refusing to divulge the tapes, the Los Angeles Police Department was forced to release the 911 calls to San Diego 6 news channel yesterday after an FOIA request. Out of the seven calls released, three eyewitnesses described the car exploding.

Call one; “Caller reported an accident, the car exploded. Caller was transferred to the Los Angeles City Fire Department.”

Call two; “Caller reported a huge accident, and the car had blown up. Caller was transferred to the Los Angeles City Fire Department.”

Call three; “Caller reported a car accident occurred in front of his house, and the car is burning.”

Call four; “Caller reported a traffic collision, he is not involved, there is a possible fatality because there was a giant explosion that occurred in the median, unknown if anyone got out of the vehicle.”

Call five; “Caller reported a car is totally engulfed in flames.”

Call six; “Caller reported a large fire on the divider of the road, he is not sure if there is a car involved.”

And call seven; “Caller reported huge auto accident.”

Analysis of the surveillance footage of the crash shows three large explosions before the vehicle comes to rest and begins to burn, fueling speculation that Hastings’ car was booby trapped with some kind of incendiary device.

The LAPD’s response to San Diego 6 also indicates that a federal agency is now investigating the death of Hastings.

“To find-out who is investigating and why, this week Judicial Watch will serve additional FOIAs against the DOJ (AKA Eric Holders’ war on journalists), Department of Homeland Security’s HSI, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Secretary of the Department of the Army (due to unchallenged threats made directly to Mr. Hastings),” writes Kimberly Dvorak.

As we reported last month, police and firefighters in the area have been given a gag order and told not to talk to the media about Hastings’ death.

Although the LAPD ruled out foul play days after the incident, automotive experts questioned why Hastings’ brand new Mercedes exploded into flames with such ferocity and why the engine was found 150 feet behind the vehicle.

Former counter-terror czar Richard Clarke reacted to the news by telling the Huffington Post that the fatal crash was “consistent with a car cyber attack.” Academic studies show that it is relatively easy to hack and remote control a modern day vehicle.

Hastings sent out an email to friends and colleagues 15 hours before his car crash stating he was “onto a big story” and needed “to go off the rada[r] for a bit.”

According to colleagues, Hastings was “incredibly tense and very worried, and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material,” and also a “nervous wreck” in response to the surveillance of journalists revealed by the AP phone tapping scandal and the NSA PRISM scandal.

After Wikileaks reported that Hastings had contacted them a few hours before his death complaining that he was under FBI investigation, other friends confirmed that the journalist was “very paranoid” about the feds watching him.

Hastings routinely received death threats as a result of his hard-hitting journalism, particularly in relation to his 2010 exposé of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

Feds Visited Michael Hastings’ House Day Before His Death



Agents were pursuing Rolling Stone journalist prior to suspicious crash

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
August 6, 2013

Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings, who was killed in a suspicious car crash after complaining that he was being harassed by the FBI, had his home visited by agents from an unnamed federal agency the day before his death, a close friend of Hastings told Infowars.


While it’s known that Hastings had warned others, including Wikileaks, that the FBI was on his case, the fact that feds visited the home of the controversial journalist almost immediately prior to his untimely death is yet another facet to a story which has thrown up numerous questions about the circumstances surrounding the car crash that killed Hastings in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 18.

Through speaking to close friends of Hastings, Infowars has also gathered other astounding revelations about the circumstances surrounding his death that will be released in due course if those individuals are comfortable in going public.

Several of Hastings’ friends and colleagues were reticent to go public with the fact that the journalist had sent an email hours before his death stating he was “onto a big story” and needed “to go off the rada[r] for a bit.”

Yesterday, Hastings’ wife Elise Jordan appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight to express the view that her husband’s death was a “tragic accident,” despite initially vowing to “take down” whoever was responsible.

The LAPD’s assertion that no foul play was involved in the death of Hastings has not satisfied journalists who are being stonewalled by both police and federal agencies.

Last week, investigative journalists Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro filed a lawsuit against the FBI after the agency’s refusal to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request which sought details on the death of the journalist.

“By suing the FBI for failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, [we] hope to obtain records pertaining both to the unusual circumstances of Michael Hastings’s death and to the broader issue of FBI surveillance of journalists and other critics of American national security policy,” Shapiro said.

Recently released surveillance camera footage which captures the crash of Hastings’ Mercedes shows three explosions before the vehicle comes to a rest, fueling speculation that some kind of incendiary device could have triggered the blasts. In at least three 911 calls, witnesses reported loud explosions accompanying the crash.

Speculation has also centered around whether Hastings’ Mercedes was remotely hijacked, a technology which academic studies confirm is a fairly straightforward method of taking control of a vehicle. Former counter-terror czar Richard Clarke remarked that the crash involving Hastings was “consistent with a car cyber attack.”

Hastings had made innumerable enemies in high places as a result of his controversial journalism and routinely received death threats. According to his friend Sgt. Joe Biggs, the journalist was working on “the biggest story yet” about the CIA before his death.

Michael Hastings Feared His Mercedes Had Been Tampered With


Day before crash: “He was afraid to drive his own car”

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
August 22, 2013

The very day before a suspicious car crash claimed his life, journalist Michael Hastings feared his Mercedes had been tampered with and asked to borrow a friend’s vehicle, telling her that he was “scared and wanted to leave town.”

The revelation, which emerged in an LA Weekly interview with Jordanna Thigpen, re-emphasizes the fact that Hastings was fearful for his safety having complained of being under scrutiny by the FBI.

Helicopters often circle over the hills, but Hastings believed there were more of them around whenever he was at home, keeping an eye on him. He came to believe his Mercedes was being tampered with. “Nothing I could say could console him,” Thigpen says.

One night in June, he came to Thigpen’s apartment after midnight and urgently asked to borrow her Volvo. He said he was afraid to drive his own car. She declined, telling him her car was having mechanical problems.

“He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,” she says.

The next day, around 11:15 a.m., she got a call from her landlord, who told her Hastings had died early that morning. His car had crashed into a palm tree at 75 mph and exploded in a ball of fire.

Hastings’ concern that his Mercedes had been sabotaged will spur theories that his car crash was not an accident, despite the release of an autopsy report earlier this week which did not indicate any foul play.

Although the autopsy report clearly indicated that the small amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana found in Hastings’ blood did not contribute to the crash, the mainstream media has gone out of its way to portray Hastings as a troubled drug user who had relapsed and was about to head into rehab.

It seems far more likely that Hastings’ drug use after being sober for five years was merely a reaction to the fact that he was being harassed by the feds. As Infowars reported, individuals from an unknown agency visited Hastings’ home the day before his death.

The day before he died, Hastings also warned in an email that his friends and colleagues were being interviewed by the FBI and told them to get a lawyer, stating he was “onto a big story” and needed “to go off the rada[r] for a bit.” Friends confirmed that the journalist was “very paranoid” about the feds watching him.

According to whistleblower organization WIkileaks, Hastings also contacted a Wikileaks attorney “just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.”

The Department of Justice indicated in a court filing last week that the FBI does have documents on Hastings despite the agency initially denying it had ever had him under investigation.

Speculation that Hastings could have been murdered center around comments made by former counter-terror czar Richard Clarke, who pointed out the ease with which modern vehicles could be hijacked via computer hacking. A Forbes video demonstrates how it is now possible to commandeer a car using an iPad.

Other questions have surrounded surveillance camera footage of the crash, which appears to show three explosions before Hastings’ Mercedes comes to a stop. WItnesses also described explosions, with some comparing the sound to bomb blasts. Many automotive experts have pondered why the Mercedes violently exploded into flames.

DOJ says they did while the FBI denies the same. Sounds like the feds need to get their stories straight.

So the autopsy didn't find any cause with the blood levels of the victim that contributed to the crash.
Has anyone at DOJ or the FBI thought to look for forensic evidence in his vehicle to ascertain whether the vehicle had been booby trapped?

Something seriously fishy stinks here. Don't depend on the feds to do the right thing.