Investigative journalist Michael Hastings tested positive for marijuana and amphetamines in his system at the time of his high-speed crash back in June.
Hastings is best known for his groundbreaking article in Rolling Stone which ended the career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. If you’ve never read the article you should check it out.
Hastings was involved in a single car accident where he drove head on into a bridge support at a very high rate of speed and was killed instantly.
He had been clean of drugs for 14 years but relapsed a month before he died according to his family.
“Family had just arrived from New York the day prior, attempting to get decedent to go to rehab,” the report released Tuesday from the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office read.
There have been a lot of conspiracy theories about Hastings’ death as some sort of vengeance for bringing down McChrystal. Adding more fuel to the fire was the fact that Hastings sent a panicked email to his colleagues, just 15 hours before his death, saying that the FBI was investigating him and that he was “onto a big story”.
After the crash Hastings’ car burst into flames and he was burned beyond recognition. His wallet however, was somehow found intact which had his medical marijuana card in it. The coroner believes it was prescribed to him for PTSD suffered after serving as a war journalist in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fire itself has been another source of speculation, it’s not often you see a car explode in a head on collision, even at a high rate of speed. Hastings car definitely exploded and definitely burned everything practically beyond recognition.
The crash was caught on a security video and has added even more speculation to his death. Some people claim that you can see an explosion just before the car loses control and crashes. However the video isn’t the best quality and it’s difficult to tell what exactly happened.
