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Award-winning journalist Michael
Hastings told his neighbor that he was afraid to drive his Mercedes
because he believed it had been tampered with, according to a LA Weekly report.
Jordanna Thigpen, a neighbor who had
grown close to Hastings, claims he knocked on her door at around
midnight one night and asked to borrow her Volvo because he was scared
to drive his own vehicle.
“He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,” she told LA Weekly. She didn’t lend Hastings her car because it was in need of repairs.
The next morning, June 18, at roughly
11:15 a.m., Thigpen’s landlord informed her that Hastings had died in an
early morning car crash and his Mercedes had exploded in a ball of
fire. She said she “burst into tears.”
In
this June 18, 2013 photo, an LAPD officer investigates the scene of a
fiery crash that killed journalist Michael Hastings, in the Hancock Park
area of Los Angeles. Hastings died when his vehicle crashed into a tree
and caught fire. Credit: AP
Thigpen had become friends with Hastings after the writer, known for his coverage of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, moved into her apartment building overlooking Hollywood. She said Hastings’ behavior grew “increasingly erratic” and that he thought helicopters circling over their building were there to keep a watchful eye on him.“Nothing I could say could console him,” said.Earlier this week, a toxicology report was released showing that he had traces of methamphetamines and marijuana in his system. Family members had said that Hastings — who suffered from addiction problems in the past — had recently suffered a relapse.
According to the LA Weekly report,
Hastings was “intensely interested” in the government surveillance of
journalists and was convinced he was a target.
Michael
Hastings, 33, has died in a car crash in Los Angeles, according to
reports. The author of wartime books and articles that included a candid
profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal is seen here at an event last year.
(AP)
Hastings died in a fiery car crash at 4:20 a.m. on June 18. He was 33.
“Hastings’ family and the Los Angeles
Police Department both have dismissed the conspiracies. LAPD also has
ruled out suicide,” the report adds.
Read LA Weekly’s full report here.
