Cars bursting into flames is incredibly rare, unless your well known. Scott
> > Journalist Michael Hastings dies in L.A. car crash > > > Michael Hastings > > Michael Hastings is shown during an event in Washington, D.C., last > year. (Paul Morigi / Getty Images / May 1, 2012) > > By Richard Winton, Andrew Blankstein and Kate Mather > > June 18, 2013, 4:57 p.m. > > Journalist Michael Hastings, best known for a Rolling Stone feature that > led > <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-runaway-general-20100622> > to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal > <http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/defense/armed-forces/stanley-a.-mcchrystal-PEPLT00007602.topic>, > died early Tuesday in a car crash in Los Angeles, his employer said. > > Neither the Los Angeles Police Department > <http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/police/los-angeles-police-department-ORGOV000939.topic> > nor coroner's officials could immediately confirm whether Hastings was > the victim of a single-car crash > <http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-melrose-collision-20130618,0,7080273.story> > that occurred about 4:25 a.m. in the 600 block of North Highland Avenue. > Police officials said it was the only vehicle fatality reported Tuesday > morning in the city of Los Angeles. > > The vehicle crossed a median, struck a tree and burst into flames in the > Hancock Park area, LAPD Officer Christopher No said. The driver was > pronounced dead at the scene. > > Coroner's officials said they could not immediately identify the victim, > saying the body was burned beyond recognition. Without identification or > next of kin, neither the LAPD nor the coroner's department could > officially identify the body found in the vehicle. > > But in a statement <http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed1/michael-hastings> > released Tuesday afternoon, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith confirmed > that Hastings died earlier in an L.A. car crash, saying his team was > "shocked and devastated by the news." > > "Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct > for the story and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about > anything he covered, from wars to politicians," Smith said. "He wrote > stories that would otherwise have gone unwritten, and without him there > are great stories that will go untold." > > Hastings, who covered the wars in Iraq > <http://www.latimes.com/topic/intl/iraq-PLGEO0000012.topic> and > Afghanistan, is perhaps best known for his Rolling Stone profile > <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/michael-hastings-rolling-stone-contributor-dead-at-33-20130618>of > McChrystal. Hastings also worked for GQ and Newsweek and wrote a book > about his fiancee, who was killed in Iraq in 2007. > > A witness described the accident to KTLA News: > <http://ktla.com/2013/06/18/driver-killed-in-fiery-car-crash-in-hollywood/#ixzz2WcDXWNjW> > "I was just coming northbound on Highland and I seen a car, like, going > really fast and all of a sudden I seen it jackknife," Luis Cortez said. > "I just seen parts fly everywhere, and I slammed on my brakes and > stopped and tried to call 911." > > Michael Hastings, the award-winning journalist whose explosive 2010 > Rolling Stone profile of U.S. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal ("The Runaway > General > <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-runaway-general-20100622>") > led to McChrystal's resignation, died Tuesday in an early morning car > accident in Los Angeles, the magazine said. He was 33. > > "Hard-charging, unabashedly opinionated, Hastings was original and at > times abrasive," Rolling Stone, where he was a contributing editor, said > in an obituary > <http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/michael-hastings-rolling-stone-contributor-dead-at-33-20130618>. > "He had little patience for flacks and spinmeisters and will be > remembered for his enthusiastic breaches of the conventions of access > journalism." > > Hastings, who covered the 2008 presidential election for Newsweek, was > hired by Buzzfeed last spring > <http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/buzzfeed-hires-michael-hastings-author-explosive-mcchrystal-profile-165117554.html> > to cover President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. > > "We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is > gone," Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith said in a statement > <http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed1/michael-hastings>. "Michael was a > great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, > and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he > covered from wars to politicians. He wrote stories that would otherwise > have gone unwritten, and without him there are great stories that will > go untold. Michael was also a wonderful, generous colleague and a joy to > work with and a lover of corgis---especially his Bobby Sneakers." > > The Los Angeles Police Department would not release the name of a male > driver killed in one-car crash at approximately 4:25 a.m. in Hollywood. > According to the Los Angeles Times > <http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-melrose-collision-20130618,0,7080273.story>, > the vehicle crossed the median, slammed into a tree and burst into > flames; the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. According to KTLA > <http://ktla.com/2013/06/18/driver-killed-in-fiery-car-crash-in-hollywood/>, > coroner's officials said the body was too badly burned to make an > immediate identification. Video purportedly taken from the > scene---posted on LAWeekly.com > <http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/06/michael_hastings_car_crash_highland_hollywood_video.php>---shows > a vehicle engulfed in flames. > > Hastings, a native of Burlington, Vermont, is survived by his wife, > Elise Jordan, a journalist and former speechwriter for Secretary of > State Condoleezza Rice > <http://www.thephillipsfoundation.org/fellows/2010/elise__jordan/novak_profiles.cfm>. > > "Great reporters exude a certain kind of electricity," Rolling Stone > managing editor Will Dana said in a statement. "The sense that there are > stories burning inside them, and that there's no higher calling or > greater way to live life than to be always relentlessly trying to find > and tell those stories. I'm sad that I'll never get to publish all the > great stories that he was going to write, and sad that he won't be > stopping by my office for any more short visits which would stretch for > two or three completely engrossing hours." > > "Part of his passion stemmed from a desire to make everyone else wake > the fuck up and realize the value of the life we're living," Matt > Farwell, Hastings friend and fellow war reporter, wrote. > > Hastings' "hallmark as a reporter was his refusal to cozy up to power," > the magazine said, pointing to an email exchange > <http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/hillary-clinton-aide-tells-reporter-to-fuck-off> > he had last fall with Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines in the > aftermath of the Benghazi attacks: > > Hastings' aggressive line of questioning angered Reines. "Why do you > bother to ask questions you've already decided you know the answers > to?" Reines asked. "Why don't you give answers that aren't bullshit > for a change?" Hastings replied. > > Hastings was the author <http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JRZZ4E> of two > books: 2012's "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of > America's War in Afghanistan > <http://www.amazon.com/Operators-Terrifying-Inside-Americas-Afghanistan/dp/0452298962/>" > based, in part, on his coverage of McChrystal; and 2008's "I Lost My > Love In Baghdad <http://www.amazon.com/Lost-My-Love-Baghdad-Modern/>," > detailing two tumultuous years covering the war in Iraq for Newsweek. > (Hastings' then-girlfriend, Andi Parhamovich, was killed in a botched > kidnapping attempt after joining him in Baghdad.) > > He also authored a recent e-book, "Panic 2012: The Sublime and > Terrifying Inside Story of Obama's Final Campaign > <http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AR48WB8/?tag=buzz0f-20>." > > During an online chat with Reddit users > <http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/uaha0/iam_michael_hastings_a_reporter_for_buzzfeed_and/> > during the 2012 campaign, Hastings was asked, "How do you not go insane > covering politics?" > > "Actually, you do go insane every so often," he replied. "On the other > hand, it's fulfilling (god, this is going to sound cheesy) when one's > work has impact." > > Fellow journalists reacted to the news of Hastings' death on Twitter > with a mixture of sadness and shock. > > "His death is beyond horrible," Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein wrote > on Twitter <https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/347136065301262336>. > > "Unspeakably sad," The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald tweeted > <https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/347135811256471553>. > > "Like David Halberstam, Michael Hastings reported fearlessly from > dangerous war zones only to die in a car crash," New York Times national > correspondent Michael Cooper wrote > <https://twitter.com/coopnytimes/status/347130701042315265>. "Awful." > > Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize winner who covered the Vietnam War for the > Times, was killed in a 2007 car wreck in California > <http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Author-David-Halberstam-killed-in-Menlo-Park-crash-2563566.php>. > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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