Fatal L.A. car crash in June is ruled an accident. Family was trying to get him into rehab after he had started using drugs after 14 years of being sober. 
 
 Journalist Michael Hastings died before dawn June 18 when his Mercedes hit a tree at high speed and burned in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. (Photo: Al Seib, Los Angeles Times/AP) 
 
 Award-winning journalist Michael Hastings had traces of amphetamines and marijuana in his system but they did not contribute to the fiery Los Angeles car crash that killed him in June, the coroner reported Tuesday. 
 
 The 33-year-old Hastings died "within seconds" from massive blunt-force trauma after he "apparently lost control" of his 2013 Mercedes-Benz C25 and hit a tree at high speed about 4:20 a.m. June 18, the coroner found in ruling his death an accident. 
 
 Hastings' family was trying to get him into rehab, the coroner's report states. He was believed to have been sober for 14 years but apparently had started using drugs again in the month before his death, investigators were told. 
 
 Award-winning journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings. (Photo: Blue Rider Press/Penguin/AP) 
 
 Hastings had a medicinal marijuana card for treatment of PTSD related to his time reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan. A person whose name was redacted from the report told investigators Hastings had also been using DMT, a hallucinogen. 
 
 Toxicology tests found "a small amount of amphetamine in the blood, consistent with possible intake of methamphetamine many hours before death, unlikely to have an intoxicative effect at the time of the accident." 
 
 The blood tests also determined that he had used marijuana hours before the crash. 
 
 Although police ruled out foul play, Hastings' death spawned conspiracy theories that government officials assassinated him because of his investigative reporting. 
 
 Gen. Stanley McChrystal resigned as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after Hastings' 2010 Rolling Stone magazine profile quoted him and staff members disparaging Vice President Biden and other Obama administration officials. 
 
 Hastings was worried that the FBI may have been investigating him. 
 
 Hours before the fatal crash, he e-mailed colleagues to say that "the Feds are interviewing my 'close friends and associates'" and warn journalists at Rolling Stone and BuzzFeed that if authorities showed up it "may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues." 
 
 He also stated "I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the radar for a bit." 
 
 In addition, Hastings had contacted lawyers from WikiLeaks just hours before he died, "saying the FBI was investigating him," the transparency organization said. 
 
 In a statement the FBI said, "At no time was journalist Michael Hastings under investigation." 
 
 An investigative reporter and an MIT doctoral candidate have filed a Freedom of Information Act request that seeks all FBI documents on Hastings. Last week, they sued the Justice Department for not responding within the required 20 business days, and the DOJ responded that the FBI "expects to finish processing the records by Sept. 9." 
 
 An FBI spokesman told MSN News last week that the agency's June statement "is still the same," but added, "Whether or not his name surfaced during another investigation, or his name is in our files for some reason, that's another question." 
 
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 Journalist Michael Hastings’ family was about to stage an intervention to try to get the reporter into “detox” on the same day his Mercedes burst into flames after hitting a tree, Los Angeles coroner’s officials said Tuesday. 
 
 Hastings, 33, died instantly, with the massive blunt-force trauma killing him "within seconds” of the single-vehicle collision on June 18 in Hancock Park, the report said. 
 
 No alcohol was detected in his system, but there were traces of drugs, according to the report. Authorities did not believe the drugs were a contributing factor in the crash. 
 
 An unidentified relative told investigators that after 14 years of sobriety, the journalist had begun “[using] drugs again in the past month or so.” The relative, whose identity was redacted from the report, told an investigator the family believed Hastings was using DMT, a powerful hallucinogenic. But tests for the drug were negative in Hastings’ body and an autopsy also found no signs of alcohol. 
 
 DOCUMENT: Read the autopsy report 
 
 The coroner's report, however, said Hastings had traces of amphetamine in his system, consistent with possible intake of methamphetamine many hours before his death. Marijuana was also detected. 
 
 A medical marijuana card was found in Hastings' wallet; the substance had been prescribed for treatment of post-traumatic stress resulting from his time as a war journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 One relative had arrived in Los Angeles from New York the day before the accident, with his brother scheduled to arrive later on the day of the crash "as his family was attempting to get [Hastings] to go to detox," the report stated. 
 
 Hastings, according to the coroner’s report, had previously been institutionalized for rehabilitative care in 1999. A witness told investigators that Hastings had been abusing Ritalin. 
 
 His family told detectives that Hastings had been in a past traffic incident in which he crashed into a pole several years ago, and that he may have been abusing Ritalin at the time. 
 
 Hastings was not known to be suicidal, but did consider himself "'invincible,' believing he could jump from a balcony and would be okay," according to the report. 
 
 Hours before the crash, Hastings had last been seen by a relative "passed out" sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. The crash occurred just before 5 a.m. 
 
 In an interview with CNN, Hastings' widow Elise Jordan called the crash a “really tragic accident.” 
 
 She told CNN’s Piers Morgan earlier this month that she didn’t “really have anything to add” to the ongoing police investigation into the crash that took her husband’s life. 
 
 “You know, my gut here was that it was just a really tragic accident, and I’m very unlucky, and the world was very unlucky,” Jordan said. 
 
 Hastings' Mercedes crashed on Highland Avenue near Melrose Avenue. The Los Angeles Police Department said there were no signs of foul play. 
 
 His death prompted numerous conspiracy theories, most suggesting that the famed journalist may have been killed while chasing his next big story. 
 
 The FBI said that Hastings was never under investigation by the agency. 
 
 "At no time was journalist Michael Hastings ever under investigation by the FBI," the agency said in a statement. 
 
 Hastings' 2010 Rolling Stone profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, "The Runaway General," exposed the general and his staff's disdain for their superiors, including National Security Advisor James L. Jones, Vice President Joe Biden and President Obama. 
 
 Hastings won the prestigious George Polk Award for magazine reporting and later wrote a book about McChrystal and his time in the war zone. 
 
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 Twitter: @anblanx 
 
 andrew.blankstein@latimes.com 
 
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– The coroner's report about the fatal car crash of journalist Michael Hastings paints the picture of a troubled man: It quotes an unidentified relative as saying the family was about to stage an intervention because the 33-year-old Hastings had started abusing drugs again after 14 years, reports the Los Angeles Times. In particular, the relative said Hastings was using a hallucinogenic called DMT. The report, however, said drugs didn't play a role in the June crash. While small amounts of meth and marijuana were found in Hastings' system, the coroner concluded that he had taken both hours earlier and was no longer intoxicated, reports USA Today. (Hastings had a medical marijuana card for post-traumatic stress syndrome, from his days as an overseas war journalist.) Hastings slammed his car into a tree, and the report concluded that he died "within seconds" from blunt-force trauma. Because he was the journalist whose reporting led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Hastings' death set off all kinds of conspiracy theories. It didn't help that Hastings himself sent out an email to friends and colleagues before the crash to say he thought the feds were investigating him as he pursued another "big story." The FBI said in a statement that Hastings was never under investigation.