Email Sent by Michael Hastings Hours Before His Death Mentions ‘Big Story’
Want to consolidate all of my comments into one, so here goes:<p>1. Raw footage of the crash, that Mercedes (appears to be a 2012 C-Class Coupe) is fully engulfed in flames. The car blew up on impact. How is another question.<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LSY3wVuASg</a><p>2. Dash cam footage of driver running red light (Highland Avenue & Santa Monica Blvd) at a high rate of speed. Video dissolves moments later (something was cut from it)<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q</a><p>3. 5:00 into first video (crash) - you can see the entire transmission thrown over 200 feet into the sidewalk.<p>4. Car is really on fire here, not sure a C-250 fuel tank (17.4 gallons) could create that big of a fireball? And that's a full tank.<p>5. I will assume Mercedes would engineer the car with the fuel pump cutting off from the engine at the moment of impact. All electrical systems, fuel, combustion, etc. would be disconnected for this reason.<p>6. He was traveling at a high rate of speed (80+ mph). Highland Avenue is a nice two-land (in each direction) street, no potholes, bumps, smooth like a baby's ass (that particular section of the street). The palm trees are also fairly thin compared to some bigger ones we have here.<p>7. Who are these LANewsLOUDLABS people? Why are they filming a) the red light at that gas station, b) the accident site shortly after (but going through side streets as opposed to simply going straight and making a right turn?) and c) have an LAPD police scanner (LAPD uses trunked communication, you need a $500+ scanner, of course, accessible to anyone (and legal) with $500.00. But a, b, and c just seem odd...<p>8. You can tell briefly that the car used by "news" above has a silver exterior. I'm not sure of the make/model, does NOT really sound like a V8 to me, maybe a turbo 6... Driver saying "oh shit" seems genuine, if that makes a difference.<p>Prelim thoughts:<p>1) He was going fast, really fast.<p>2) He ran a red light (there's always a reason for this: alcohol, bad judgment, being chased by someone, etc.)<p>3) Vehicle burst into flames - but when?<p>4) Engine and transmission over 200 feet away from crash site (tree)<p>5) That roof is gone, there's a big hole with flames shooting out - but this car has a panorama sunroof. That glass shattering + high impact collision = hole.<p>6) Any arson specialists, chemists - feel free to chime in on the pattern, color, position, spread of the burns at 3:00 of the video.<p>7) The cockpit is intact - so is the drivers seat - the engine is gone, the car is badly damaged in the front, but if there was no fire, I'd say bad injuries but alive. Fire killed the guy.