Michael Hastings Died in Car Accident on Tuesday in Hollywood
Posted on June 19, 2013 Written By: iadminlaw
Michael Hastings, the 33-year-old award-winning journalist and war correspondent, died early Tuesday in a fiery car crash in Los Angeles.
Car Fire (Photo credit: samekh9393)
His death was announced by his manager and family. The accident occurred in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles around 4:15 a.m. Originally, the coroner and investigators were unable to identify the victim.
The accident resulted in a huge fire. Apparently, near the intersection of Highland and Melrose avenues, the vehicle Hastings was driving slammed into a tree. Once the tree was engulfed in flames, neighbors who had awoken with the loud noise, tried to put the flames out with hoses from their own backyards. Fire crews arrived shortly to assist and completely demolish the fire.
Investigators are unsure what caused the accident. They are going to examine the scene and vehicle. The car is severely damaged, but was looked at for clues at the scene by investigators who had arrived. Highland Avenue was closed down for a few hours due to the investigation.
Hastings is survived by his wife, Elise Jordan who resides in his native Vermont with some other close family. Before his death, he had been working as a contributing editor for Rolling Stone.
Hastings won a 2010 George Polk Award for magazine reporting for his Rolling Stone cover story “The Runaway General.”
His story was credited with ending Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s career after it revealed the military’s candid criticisms of the Obama administration. Throughout the rest of his career, he was well-known for this landmark interview and supposed betrayal of his subject.
Hastings quoted McChrystal and his aides mocking Obama administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, over their war policies.
Most recently, he wrote about politics for the news website BuzzFeed, where the top editor said colleagues were devastated by the loss.
“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,” said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief.
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