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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:16 PM Jun 2013

No foul play suspected in Michael Hastings' death, LAPD says

The Los Angeles Police Department said there appears to be no foul play in the one-vehicle accident that killed journalist Michael Hastings.

The Los Angeles County coroner on Thursday positively identified Hastings as the driver of a Mercedes that crashed on Highland Avenue near Melrose Avenue on Tuesday morning.

Hastings' involvement with hot-button stories has led to a variety of conspiracy theories arising on the Internet over his death. But LAPD officials said the incident appears to have been an accident and that no other vehicles were involved. Officials are trying to determine whether there was a mechanical problem with the car. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

Video of the accident scene showed the car engulfed in flames. Law enforcement sources said the car appeared to be going at a high rate of speed but emphasized that the investigation was ongoing.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-no-foul-play-suspected-in-michael-hastings-death-lapd-saysd-20130620,0,7630869.story

Hopefully this CT will be buried once and for all.

54 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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No foul play suspected in Michael Hastings' death, LAPD says (Original Post) Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 OP
Ahh...Cali_D. Hope springs eternal. Liberal Veteran Jun 2013 #1
Yep. n/t Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #2
Please stop with facts. zappaman Jun 2013 #3
Facts, from the LAPD? sabrina 1 Jun 2013 #39
this is just part of the conspiracy JI7 Jun 2013 #4
Yep! treestar Jun 2013 #29
Wow RobertEarl Jun 2013 #5
I liked Hastings Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #6
What was it you liked about him? RobertEarl Jun 2013 #8
Now you're just getting ridiculous Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #12
Not ridiculous at all RobertEarl Jun 2013 #13
Now you want me to prove to you how much I liked him? Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #17
I believe everything you say, brohaha RobertEarl Jun 2013 #19
Rodney King and others say you should trust LAPD with all of your heart: Fire Walk With Me Jun 2013 #7
They are from the government RobertEarl Jun 2013 #10
so what do you think happened ? how about the video of him speeding and people JI7 Jun 2013 #11
The man is dead RobertEarl Jun 2013 #14
I do hope that someone somewhere who can be trusted verifies that his speeding was not HardTimes99 Jun 2013 #25
True and any random person who says they were with Occupy treestar Jun 2013 #30
LAPD: Protect and Serve the 1%, Beat the 99%. - nt HardTimes99 Jun 2013 #24
Of course "THEY" would say that!!!!!!11111!!1!111!!! alcibiades_mystery Jun 2013 #9
I've lived in LA for decades, done copwatch on Skid Row...those who know nothing about LAPD Fire Walk With Me Jun 2013 #15
And hopefully no one will ever try to think for themselves again. Skip Intro Jun 2013 #16
I've seen enough movies to know that all this means is that "they" got to the LAPD too. (nt) Nye Bevan Jun 2013 #18
LOL Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #20
If you lived in LA, you'd understand that LAPD are little more than a gang Fire Walk With Me Jun 2013 #22
+1 magellan Jun 2013 #26
You all need to move then, ,don't you feel unsafe? treestar Jun 2013 #31
Don't light a match near all that straw. n/t magellan Jun 2013 #32
A brief review of recent LAPD history, like the HardTimes99 Jun 2013 #27
Weird how incidents like this instantly divide DUers into the suspicious and the cocksure whatchamacallit Jun 2013 #21
In other words BainsBane Jun 2013 #23
Or whatchamacallit Jun 2013 #38
Well, there's always the crowd that says "That's one more piece of the puzzle, wonder what the MADem Jun 2013 #35
I agree whatchamacallit Jun 2013 #37
Of course no foul play just like all the blackmen who were shot in the back of the head down south YeahSureRight Jun 2013 #28
So he was LIVING in LA...no longer living in VT? MADem Jun 2013 #33
i think the LA bureau was new and he was just setting it up JI7 Jun 2013 #34
"...LAPD says." 99Forever Jun 2013 #36
So the LAPD is in on it with the Feds? Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #40
Is that what I said, dooood? 99Forever Jun 2013 #48
Yes, because car crashes typically look like this: Ter Jun 2013 #41
I hate to break this to you, but many times, car crashes DO look like that... MADem Jun 2013 #42
This is true Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #46
You think it was some sort of explosive device? Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #43
Yes, sometimes they do. zappaman Jun 2013 #45
The LAPD certainly has an impeccable history of truthfulness. The Link Jun 2013 #44
Well that proves it, then, doesn't it? MNBrewer Jun 2013 #47
I remember when the LAPD choked a kid to death in a parking lot at a Dead show for doing a handstand Warren DeMontague Jun 2013 #49
I also remember Rodney King Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #50
Please note Im not endorsing any particular conspiracy theory. Warren DeMontague Jun 2013 #53
And that is totally understandable Cali_Democrat Jun 2013 #54
Oh well if the LAPD says it it has to be true Raine Jun 2013 #51
The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing. Vinnie From Indy Jun 2013 #52
 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
5. Wow
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:37 PM
Jun 2013

This case really bugs you?

You only have more than a few threads on this.

How long will you allow this to bug you?

The investigation is ongoing. You may need to get some sleep, eh?

 

Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
6. I liked Hastings
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:39 PM
Jun 2013

I didn't want to see his death clouded by conspiracy theories.

IS that OK with you?

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
13. Not ridiculous at all
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:54 PM
Jun 2013

Your dancing away however......

"What did you like about Hastings" is a pretty simple question.

It's funny you refuse an answer....

 

Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
17. Now you want me to prove to you how much I liked him?
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:57 PM
Jun 2013

Even if i hated him, I could just make something up.

OK....I take it back. I hated him.

Happy?

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
19. I believe everything you say, brohaha
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 10:04 PM
Jun 2013

I never even knew much about him. Until these days.

Out of respect for him and the journalism he produced, a thorough and complete and independent investigation is called for. No reason to make snap judgements.

You just keep on posting, this is quite educational, since I am just getting to know you.

JI7

(89,172 posts)
11. so what do you think happened ? how about the video of him speeding and people
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:49 PM
Jun 2013

saying he was speeding ? is that all part of the set up/cover up ?

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
14. The man is dead
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:56 PM
Jun 2013

The investigation is ongoing. There is no need to make immediate conclusions. That is what an investigator like Hastings would tell you. In respect to the man, just chill.

 

HardTimes99

(2,049 posts)
25. I do hope that someone somewhere who can be trusted verifies that his speeding was not
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 04:27 AM
Jun 2013

due to his being followed by another vehicle.

Don't work in law enforcement, so I have no idea how one goes about proving or disproving something like that. Just an idle thought that has crossed my mind today.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
30. True and any random person who says they were with Occupy
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 04:49 AM
Jun 2013

never lies and can be trusted 100%, isn't that true?

 

Fire Walk With Me

(38,893 posts)
15. I've lived in LA for decades, done copwatch on Skid Row...those who know nothing about LAPD
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:57 PM
Jun 2013

are issuing opinion from their nether orifice. LAPD lie lie lie, they brutalize and murder and oppress. Period. They are a gang of the worst sort. Racist, sexist, brutal...anyone who knows nothing of them can take it elsewhere.

Skip Intro

(19,768 posts)
16. And hopefully no one will ever try to think for themselves again.
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 09:57 PM
Jun 2013

People just saying non-approved things.

The nerve!

 

Fire Walk With Me

(38,893 posts)
22. If you lived in LA, you'd understand that LAPD are little more than a gang
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 03:34 AM
Jun 2013

but they do what city hall tells them. Unfortunately, city hall does what the downtown business lobby ccala.org tell them. I've seen this to include some 20 arrests for Occupy activists using =water-soluble children's sidewalk chalk=. None of the arrests were prosecuted, but those people were cuffed and hauled off every time. I was present for at least two of them (against the same individual). Why? cca are a target of Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Skid Row, and in their 2020 plans .pdf they state specifically that they intend to rid downtown of "intelligence-based graffiti". In fact, LAPD were directed to arrest anyone at the monthly Artwalk using this instantly-removable by water children's chalk. Several people were roughed up and arrested, carted off in police cars, even for chalking "I (heart) LAPD". People got upset. Rather upset, at this obvious bullshit, and took to the streets in anger. LAPD responded as usual, with riot police shooting rubber bullets and even tasers at the righteous crowd.

All because LAPD do what city hall says, and city hall does what cca says. Don't believe me? Take a few seconds and hear what police chief Beck and then mayor Mr. Villain had to say on the matter of riot police attacking an art gathering (and by extension, the additional and long-term Occupy arrests) :



WATER-SOLUBLE CHILDREN'S CHALK. CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR.

That's what business influence of city hall buys you. Why would anyone then imagine that larger power structures not have even greater influence, that such scum would not cheerfully do what they're told by The Government?

This is why they WOULD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022154200

DHS, FBI, and other "agencies" share information these days, quite freely, especially through "fusion centers". Police departments do what they're told. DHS, FBI, may directly tell police agencies to do certain things, and guess what? If they refuse, it's against the Feds themselves. Not likely!!!

treestar

(82,383 posts)
31. You all need to move then, ,don't you feel unsafe?
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 04:50 AM
Jun 2013

Oh right, cops everywhere are no good.

Why don't we just disband them all and get our own guns to protect ourselves?

 

HardTimes99

(2,049 posts)
27. A brief review of recent LAPD history, like the
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 04:34 AM
Jun 2013

Rampart Scandal, might give you pause.

The Rampart scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (or CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers either assigned to or associated with the Rampart CRASH unit were implicated in some form of misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police misconduct in United States history. The convicted offenses include unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of false evidence, framing of suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and the covering up of evidence of these activities.[1]
The New Rampart Police Station

The Rampart investigation, based mainly on statements of the admitted corrupt officer (Pérez), initially implicated over 70 officers of wrongdoing. Of those officers, enough evidence was found to bring 58 before an internal administrative board. However, of the officers named by Pérez, only 24 were actually found to have committed any wrongdoing, with 12 given suspensions of various lengths, 7 forced to resign or retire, and 5 fired.[2] As a result of the probe into falsified evidence and police perjury, 106 prior criminal convictions were overturned.[3] The Rampart Scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the city of Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements.[4]

. . . .

As of 2013 the full extent of Rampart corruption is not known, with several rape, murder and robbery investigations involving Rampart officers remaining unsolved.[6][7] Emphasis added


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampart_scandal

**********************

In just one instance, the LAPD Rampart CRASH officers shot a Latino, leaving him paralyzed for life, then planted a gun on him to "prove" it was a justifiable shooting.

whatchamacallit

(15,558 posts)
21. Weird how incidents like this instantly divide DUers into the suspicious and the cocksure
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 03:15 AM
Jun 2013

Quite the desperate crusade.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
35. Well, there's always the crowd that says "That's one more piece of the puzzle, wonder what the
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 07:11 AM
Jun 2013

autopsy will reveal?"

I think incidents like this might bring out the people who believe DU is divided in the way you indicate, but there are plenty of people here who just don't buy into that bull. Sure, some might "have an idea" about what they think might have happened, but, if their suspicions are not realized, will not stomp their foot, become enraged, engage in denial, or spit furiously as the suggestion that their theory wasn't the correct one.

We know no one was "chasing" him--there's video of the car whipping through the intersection, and no one was on the guy's tail. We don't know if he was heading home after a long day, or heading out to do some late night paryting or meeting someone for a more serious reason.

We just don't know. None of us were his BFF; his wife might know what his schedule was, but no one here "knew" the guy. So we theorize. It is what people do on discussion boards--they start and engage in discussions.

Time will reveal all, I am sure.

 

YeahSureRight

(205 posts)
28. Of course no foul play just like all the blackmen who were shot in the back of the head down south
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 04:45 AM
Jun 2013

not that long ago were all suicides. SSDD

More along citizen nothing more to see......

MADem

(135,425 posts)
33. So he was LIVING in LA...no longer living in VT?
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 07:02 AM
Jun 2013
Hastings started writing for BuzzFeed and joined the organization's Los Angeles bureau after it opened in October.


I was wondering if the car was rented, but it was probably his, or leased. I wonder if his wife had moved to the west coast?

JI7

(89,172 posts)
34. i think the LA bureau was new and he was just setting it up
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 07:06 AM
Jun 2013

it might have been a longer stay though . but i don't think he moved permanently.

99Forever

(14,524 posts)
48. Is that what I said, dooood?
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 07:54 PM
Jun 2013

Seeing how as the LAPD is so well known for being so honest and forthright in everything they, how would anyone dare to ever question those fascist SOBs.


Bwahahahahahahahahhahahaha.

You're a funny guy.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
42. I hate to break this to you, but many times, car crashes DO look like that...
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 12:41 PM
Jun 2013

If the fuel line is compromised (say, by running over a fire hydrant), you're going to have gasoline on hot metal, and we know what happens....

I apologize for the sound track on this thing--turn it down if you cannot bear it:



One-car crash into a light pole:



Fiery car crash on sleepy Cape Cod:



Fact of the matter is, they DO sometimes look like that. If they never looked like that, there'd be more forensic people pitching a public fit.
 

Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
46. This is true
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 01:11 PM
Jun 2013

I was on the 405 freeway in LA a few years ago. Some lady in front of me hit her breaks hard, the pickup truck fishtailed and flipped over. We pulled her out of the truck after it flipped. She was fine, but all of a sudden smokes starts coming from the engine and in a few minutes the entire truck is engulfed in flames.

Car wrecks often end up in a fiery mess.

zappaman

(20,605 posts)
45. Yes, sometimes they do.
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 01:06 PM
Jun 2013

I can take you by there later so you can see the invisible crater left by the bomb.
Make sure to bring your special glasses that enable you to see invisible craters.

 

The Link

(757 posts)
44. The LAPD certainly has an impeccable history of truthfulness.
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 01:05 PM
Jun 2013

I see no reason to doubt what they say on this or any subject.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
49. I remember when the LAPD choked a kid to death in a parking lot at a Dead show for doing a handstand
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 08:25 PM
Jun 2013

You'll excuse me if I dont believe a fucking word they say on what constitutes foul play.

 

Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
50. I also remember Rodney King
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 08:33 PM
Jun 2013

But that doesn't mean they lie in every instance. If they did lie when it comes to Hastings, what is their goal?

To cover for the Feds.

This is just getting way too Alex Jones for me.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
53. Please note Im not endorsing any particular conspiracy theory.
Sat Jun 22, 2013, 02:28 AM
Jun 2013

Only pointing out that "the LAPD says... " doesn't carry a ton of weight with me.

Raine

(30,540 posts)
51. Oh well if the LAPD says it it has to be true
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 08:41 PM
Jun 2013
I live in the LA County area, the LAPD is nothing but a bunch of thugs and criminals. I wouldn't believe them if they told me the sky was blue! I don't understand why anyone would give a single bit of crediabilty to the bottom dweller LAPD.

Vinnie From Indy

(10,820 posts)
52. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.
Fri Jun 21, 2013, 09:16 PM
Jun 2013

I hope Buzzfeed hires their own investigators.

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