Crime & Safety
Rolling Stone Journalist Michael Hastings Positively Identified by Coroner
The writer died this week in a fiery crash on Highland Avenue near Melrose Avenue.
A coroner's spokesman confirmed today the body removed from a burned-out Mercedes-Benz that crashed into some trees in the Hollywood area and burst into flames was that of star journalist Michael Hastings.
Hastings, 33, who was working for BuzzFeed in Los Angeles, was driving south on Highland Avenue when he apparently lost control of the compact car near Melrose Avenue and crashed into palm trees in the median about 4:20 a.m. Tuesday.
Video posted on YouTube by a freelance photographer shows the car, apparently an SLK model, in flames a few minutes after impact and man using a garden hose to try to douse the fire. A witness told the photographer the car was going about 100 mph shortly before the crash.
Hastings, who covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, was probably best known for a 2010 profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who mocked his civilian commander. Its publication in Rolling Stone under the headline "The Runaway General'' led President Barack Obama to recall McChrystal to Washington and replace him with Gen. David Petraeus. The article won Hastings the prestigious 2010 Polk award for magazine reporting and served as the basis for his first book, "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan.''
He later published the book "I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story,'' about his fiance, who was killed in a Baghdad car bombing in 2007. He later married Elise Jordan, a writer, in May 2011.
Hastings, a native of Burlington, Vt., and educated at New York University, was also known for interviewing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. At the time of his death, he was reportedly working on a story about Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite who became embroiled in the scandal that erupted around Petraeus, who was serving as director of the CIA until he resigned Nov. 9, 2012, under pressure over an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, his biographer.
Ed Winter, assistant chief Los Angeles County coroner, confirmed that it was Hastings who died in the fiery wreck, though he did not say what method was used to confirm it was him.
Los Angeles police have said no foul play was suspected in the wreck, which remains under investigation.
The car's engine reportedly ended up about 200 feet away from the impact site.
Ben Smith, editor in chief of BuzzFeed.com, issued a statement saying he and his colleagues were "shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone.''
"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.
- City News Service
