Hastings Final Accident Report - Not the LAPD's, KW's

The Los Angeles Police Department's final accident report regarding Michael Hastings is still not finished and the lead investigator on the case said Friday it could be another two months before it is completed. 

Det. Connie White of LAPD's West Bureau Traffic is reliable in her response whenever Krikorian Writes calls. "I'm on another death investigation. I am swamped. I haven't finished with Hastings' final report.."

But, then she added "No one is going to have access to that anyway."

I really wish she hadn't said that.* 

Just when i was going to finally write my own thoughts, after several reports of quoting other people's opinion, after only writing the facts of the case from authorities and sources as I had learned them,  Det. White had to go and say that and bring back the "What are they hiding?" suspicions.   

As you recall - or maybe not since it's been so long - Michael Hastings died on June 18 this year in a dramatic car crash on Highland Avenue just south of Melrose Avenue in Hancock Park. The journalist's death understandably inspired conspiracies theories that a United States "black ops" had masterminded the "accident".   Hastings was best known for a Rolling Stone Magazine profile of then-general Stanley McChrystal who, along with his staff, badmouthed President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.  McChrystal was forced to resign as a result of the article.  To top that, Hastings was said to have been working on a report about the head of the CIA whose name escapes me right now. (Typing of the CIA, I'm kinda looking forward to seeing Saul get slowly killed by Carrie.)

Anyway, what seems like half a year ago, I came across the scene of the crash that June morning as I walked to Mozza to get my car that I had left the night before in the restaurant complex's rear parking lot. (No, I wasn't too drunk to drive.) An automobile, as mangled as I have seen,  was being dragged away from a palm tree and onto a flatbed tow truck. A LAPD officer, last name of Lee, told me the guy was dead and had crashed about four o'clock that morning  

My first thought? "Another L.A. drunk dies."

I told Officer Lee the restaurant's security camera may have captured the crash. It had. They got the tape. (Someone, WeAreTheSavageNation, put it on YouTube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjaPHWNzTHQ  It has over 350,000 views.)

I never wrote about what I thought happened.  Then White comes up with that "no one's going to see the report" line.  As a reporter, the first thing that streaks through the  mind when someone, anyone, says something like that, is "You're wrong. I'm going to see that report."  

But, first, here's my final report,  I was gonna hold off.  but I'm not going to wait for an final accident investigation report. I've got Watts to cover. I've got my own death investigations and funerals to attend.     

So, not that hardly anyone cares, here's what I think. Michael Hastings wasn't the victim of a high power evil operations to silence him and any upcoming investigation he was undertaking. He just crashed. He sped without regard through a red light at the intersection of Melrose and Highland where there is a slight rise and his car went up on its suspension - maybe even lifted off the pavement a bit. He may have realized right then - delusional or not -  that he was going way too fast,  that he had made a big mistake. Mere speculation here, but I doubt in that instant he thought it was a fatal mistake. But, he knew he fucked up.  If he had any, the hairs on the back of his neck rose. A buzz coursed across his forehead to his shoulders.  Then, as seen on the Mozza video, he swerved, tapped his brakes, hit the curb, the front driver's side wheel came off,  a spark ensued, the rear of his car rose slightly, he hit a water pipe thingamajig, and then he hit a tree and bam! a big explosion and Michael Hastings was dead. 

A six weeks or so ago, two of his friends, who asked me not to use their names used, told me, without a doubt, Michael Hastings was murdered by the CIA or some dark forces.

But, as time went on,  they weren't so sure  Maybe it was just an accident, they both said separately in mid September.  One of them even consulted a psychic who contacted Michael Hastings Even Hastings, the psychic said, wasn't sure it wasn't just an accident.  How's that for proof?

But, the thing that set me off to be done with this story was this.   I was driving with a young friend at Highland and Melrose late one recent night. It wasn't four in the morning, but as I drove east along Melrose passing Highland I thought 'What if I had happened across this corner  in the early morning hours of June 18th at 4:21 or what ever it was.' What if someone else had. Some family getting an early start to a trip to Yosemite or Big Bear or anywhere. And our supposedly fearless investigative reporter comes barreling through and kills not just himself, but everyone else.    

There might now be a few more people out there that think I'm part of the coverup now. I've read several comments on the investigative website WhoWhatWhy.com and a couple others that stated such.

But, really, who would include me in any coverup?

 * "I wish she (he) hadn't said that."  Barney Miller. "Season One episode 11, part 3 or 3" Check it out starting at 2:45 or so. "Oh, no, No more Attica." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IovOcJWifWE

Watts Tense After 2 Killings, 3 Arrested from Grape St.

Sept. 24, 2013

 A tension not felt  in years swept though Watts today in anticipation of a very troubling  night as police vowed to come down hard on the Grape Street Crips in Jordan Downs while community leaders from Nickerson Gardens sought to reign in revengeful  Bounty Hunters following the Monday night shooting death of rapper Kevin "Flipside" White, aka "DK".  

Adding to the cauldron, was the killing of Markice Brider, 29, aka "Chiccen" who was shot in Imperial Courts at about 7:40 p.m., just 10 minutes after White was attacked. Community leaders there also faced the daunting task for holding back the projects' PJ Crips. 

Three members of the Grape Street Crips were arrested within an hour of the killings and police are seeking more suspects.  The case will go to the District Attorney' office Wednesday.  LAPD Captain Phil Tingirides said officers would be "flooding the area" in and around the Grape Street stronghold  of Jordan Downs. 

"Last night was the most disgusting example of what street gangs do," said Tingirides at an emergency meeting of the Watts Gang Task Force. "I am going to put the pressure on. If you are not going to join the peace, you are gong to deal with me."  

Tingirides said that four years ago this type of violence in Watts "was expected, but now it just saddens." adding he that, as forceful as he was speaking at the meeting, he was more hurt than mad.  

Reached in the federal prison in Virginia where his is serving out a long sentence, Brian "Loaf" McLucas, legendary  shot caller of the Lot Boys set of the Bounty Hunters who DK White once ran with said "Just say he was a life long friend."

Monday afternoon, around 2 p.m., there was a shooting inside Jordan Downs that maybe have been an so-called "in-house" shooting, Tingirides said. Within six hours, two men from Grape Street's long-time rival projects were dead.

Det. Sal LaBarbera, of the Criminal Gang Homicide Division, said it was not unheard of for gang members involved in an internal dispute to go out and shoot up other neighborhoods in an effort to deflect suspicion.   "They shot a lady in the thigh, also on 114th Street (Where "DK" was killed).  At the Courts there were a bunch of kids outside by the rec center and the shooters could have killed them, too. They're cowards."

At the Watts Gang Task Force Meeting, Big Donny Joubert said he was  up most of the night talking to guys from Nickerson Gardens trying to keep the Bounty Hunters from retaliating. "It's been so hard. But, I'll be out there tonight, too,"

For more info, see an earlier story here. http://krikorianwrites.com/blog/2013/9/24/rapper-flipside-from-watts-killed

Rapper "Flipside" from Nickerson Gardens Killed

BREAKING NEWS

Sept. 24, 2013

Flipside, much loved rapper and resident from  Nickerson Gardens, was shot and killed Monday night on East 114th Street, sparking fears that an all-out gang street war could erupt among the housing project gangs in Watts. 

Minutes after Flipside, aka "DK" and "Dirty Kev" and whose real name is Kevin White, was killed, a another person was shot and killed in Imperial Courts near 114th Street and Gorman Avenue. That person has been identified as Markice Brider, 29, aka "Chiccen".   

An emergency meeting of the Watts Gang Task Force was called for at noon today where emotions will be highly charged. 

Flipside was a beloved personality not only in Nickerson Gardens, but throughout Watts. 

"I can't believe Flip is gone, he was a general," said a stunned Aqeela Sherrills, Watts community activist from the Jordan Downs.  "This is terrible. If they kill Flip, then anyone could be a target."

White was not targeted, police said, but another tragic victim killed because of where he lived. 

"I've known Flip since he was a little kid," said Ronald "Kartoon" Antwine, a legendary Bounty Hunter who is now a location scout in Hollywood. "Miss Dorothy, his mom, she must be devastated.  

LAPD detectives are out in full force investigating the case.

Here is a YouTube video of Flipside's OFTB (Operation From the Bottom)  and "They Aint Ready Yet"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed1Toz9i-9Q

This is his video "They Won The Ghetto" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia9gRIekPZ4

More Information will made posted here throughout the day .

The Three Heartbreaks of DaMar Rigsby

The Death of A Brother and Son 

September 13, 2013,

Los Angeles  

"Call 911! Call 911!", desperately said Damar Alan Rigsby to a friend as he stumbled last Friday evening into Al's Liquor Store at Figueroa and 108th and collapsed.  Shot once in the neck, those were the 24-year-old's last known words

Three time zones away, Margaret Rigsby, Damar's mother, was surprised to hear her phone ring after midnight.  This is her recollection of the heartbreaking phone call.

"Who is this?,' Margaret asked.

""I'm a social worker calling from Harbor UCLA. Are you Margaret Rigsby, mother of Damar Rigsby?"

"Yes. Why are you calling me?" 

"Something happened here." 

"What do you mean? Tell me. Did something happen to my son?"

"I will transfer you to a doctor."

"Wait! What happened? Did something to my son?""

Margaret Rigsby, 2,000 miles away in Indianapolis, was put on hold as hysteria began to take its own hold. An uncertain amount of time passed. A man identifying himself as a doctor came on the line and told Margaret her son had been shot. And then this even more devastating news.

"Even if we could have saved him, the bullet was too close to his spine." 

Wednesday night, at the Bethel A.M. E. Church on 79th and Western, Margaret pounded her chest and repeated that line "Even if we could have saved him. Even if we could have saved him."  

Margaret and her daughter, Jamila, had flown to Los Angeles from Indiana shortly after the worst news and were at the church to be part of a weekly "Cease Fire" stop the violence meeting and to raise awareness for their beloved DeMar.   

LAPD homicide Det. Rick Gordon said today that they believe the shooting was gang-related and  Rigsby was wrongly profiled as being from that Vermont Vista neighborhood which is a stronghold of the Denver Lane Bloods.     

"He was just walking down the street trying to get home and our belief was he was profiled by rival gang members," said Gordon. "With his background, being from out of town, he may have not been familiar with the area."

Rigsby was shot once in the neck on the east side of Figueroa and ran bleeding across the street into Al's. 

Gordon said one of the best detectives on the South Bureau homicide squad, Nate Kouri, is leading the investigation. Anyone with information can call LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide unit at (213) 485 1383 or if one feels uncomfortable with calling the police, then they can E-mail me, MIchael Krikorian, at makmak47@gmail.com.

Demar's sister Jamila Rigsby,  eyes red from crying for days, said her 6-foot-4, basketball-loving brother had moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana to seek work as an electrician so he could send for his 18-month old daughter.  She said he had left Indiana also because he had broken up with the baby's mother and was heartbroken. 

"He was the nicest person in the world. He made people feel good," said Jamila in a kind of daze. She was finding this tragedy hard to believe. "I never even thought I would lose my brother to a shooting. Why? Why ? Why did they kill my brother?"      

Jamila and her family are having a vigil tonight  in front of Al's Liquor Store at 7 p.m..  

Since the shooting, Jamila has frequently been in this often-violent neighborhood trying to find out who killed DaMar.

"People ask me 'Why are you waking the streets around here? It's dangerous.'.  What can they do to me? Shoot me?  You already took my life. I'm  an only child now. I'm an only daughter. Why did the kill my brother? I still can't believe they killed my brother."

### 

The family of DaMar Rigsby needs financial help to transport his body back to Indiana and pay for his funeral.  They are asking for donations. If you can help at all. please send to P.O.Box 53165 Indianapolis IN 46253 to Margaret Rigsby Jamila Rigsby or written out to Covington Memorial Gardens!
 

DeMar Rigsby

No Outrage For This Trayvon's Killing

August 31, 2013

                         THIS TRAYVON 

President Obama won't be saying "If I had a son, he would look like this Trayvon."  There won't be any marches led by Al Sharpton over this Trayvon's shooting death which occurred Tuesday afternoon in a section of L. A. most Los Angelenos don't even know. CNN and every other network won't be providing "breaking news" reports if this Trayvon's killer ever comes to trial.   

But, for the family of 16-year-old Trayvon Jackson, gunned down with his 18-year-old friend Antonio Riley in a firestorm of bullets on 64th Street near 6th Avenue in Hyde Park, well, for them , the world right now is a cruel place and they just want to be left alone.. 

"I don't even want all that attention anyway, like that Florida Trayvon got," said Trayvon Jackson's mother Tamiesha as she walked aimlessly around the driveway of a tattered two-story apartment complex on East 87th Place where she lives. five miles from the killings.   Surrounded by two daughters and family friends, she politely and softly asked me to leave. I respectfully honored her. But, as I turned to go, her friend Demetrice Harbin asked me "Why are you here?" I told her this has been my beat for nearly 20 years and when I found out the name of the youngest victim, the contrasts in the media attention of Trayvon Martin, 17, and this Trayvon Jackson struck me.

Look, I get it. I don't expect the slaying of a black 16 -year-old boy from South Central Los Angeles by, almost certainly, another black male, to get to national attention. I've been doing this long enough to know that. Thing is, buckhorn foolish as it may be, it still irks me.  I'm not alone.    

“If this Trayvon would have been shot by a white guy,  everyone would have heard about it," said Daude Sherrills, long time community activist who grew up in the Jordan Downs projects. “I mean President Obama was talking about the other Trayvon in Florida. Congress. Movie stars. NBA stars. You had  them clowns Sharpton and Jackson doing their routine in front of the TV cameras. Where are they for this Trayvon and his friend? It's no big deal because a black guy shot them  They're just as dead as they would have been if a white guy shot them "

Back on 87th Place, Demetrice Harbin went back into the apartment where the grieving mother had gone. Soon the mom came out and started talking about her son. 

"He was just a kid. They try and make him out like he's a  gangster because where he was," she said. (Police detectives have said the killings, in a Rollin 60s Crips neighborhood, were gang-related, most likely a payback from the Rollin 40s Crips to the 60s for  shooting death earlier this month. Trayvon, nicknamed "Crafty", was what police call an "associate" of the 60s.)   

The mom went on to say her son loved to watch action and scary movies. "He loved all them "Friday" movies. And "Boyz in the Hood."   One of Trayvon's sisters, Beverly, said he loved to rap and admired the rapper Nipsey Hustle. The mom cut in, "Oh, he loved the oldies, too. The Temptations. Sam Cooke. We used to dance around the front room. Just him and me." 

She got quiet and her daughter and Demetrice stared at her.

"Trayvon used to always tell me he was going to buy me a house and a truck."  

Just under a mile away, on 81st Street near the Harbor Freeway, Anthony Riley was on his porch talking about Trayvon's friend, his own slain son, Antonio.    

"He was just a baby," said Riley, 46 who grew up in Watts and now drives a tanker truck. "He wasn't  a trouble maker. He just went to visiting a friend and he got killed for it. " 

Riley, who got the bad news over the phone from a friend, said he has been in a state of rage since then. 

"I'm hot as fish grease. Mad as a motherfucker," said Riley. his big biceps tensing up. But, he insisted he did not want to personally get revenge on the person who shot his son. "I hope they catch him. I don't want to go to prison. I have another kid to live for."

Hit 'n Run Becomes Double Homicide in South Central

WRONG CORNER, WRONG TIME 

September 5, 2013

I was trying to think of a word to describe the latest double homicide in South-Central Los Angeles, but couldn't come up with anything appropriate, so I'll just relate briefly what happened. 

Early Sunday morning, there was a hit-and-run car crash.  The guy that got hit, sped after the guy that drove away. It apparently began a wild chase. Barreling west on 50th Street from Flower Street heading toward Figueroa, the "Hit" car caught up with the "Run" car, cutting him off so the two vehicles came to an abrupt, screeching halt. At least one driver, maybe both, exited their vehicle.

It just so fatefully happened that seeing all this commotion at 4:55 a.m. was a gang member hanging near 50th and Figueroa streets. Thinking the two cars were together and about to attack his 'hood, the guy grabbed a shotgun and blasted the two drivers to death.

"Some random gangster shot-gunned them both," said veteran LAPD homicide detective Chris Barling who has just about seen it all.  "It was definitely different. That's for sure. We're thinking the shooter must have thought the two cars were together and sees them driving crazy, slam to a stop and get out and he figures they're going to attack him."

Wednesday afternoon a suspect, Derrick Henry, was arrested for the killings, Barling wrote on his Twitter account. @77thhomicidecop.  Henry, 18, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.  

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said Gilbert Ralph Montano, 24, from Rosamond in Kern County died from a shotgun blast to his head and Anthony Smallwood, 40, of Los Angeles died of a shotgun wound to his torso. 

Police are searching for a suspect. Anyone with information can call LAPD gang homicide at (213) 485-1385

MICHAEL HASTINGS' INVESTIGATION NOT OVER

DETECTIVE STILL ON THE CASE, NEW DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT HASTINGS AND THE CRASH

August 28, 2013

LOS ANGELES

Despite the release last week of the coroner's report, the lead LAPD detective in the Michael Hastings' fatal car crash case said Tuesday the investigation is "far from over", but adamantly maintained the view that the investigative journalist's death  was not caused by a criminal act.

"I'm not even close to being done with the investigation," said Det. Connie White in a small interview room at LAPD's West Traffic Bureau Division. "It was an accident.  I understand it is very important we do as thorough a job as we can do before the final report."

From Detective White and other well -placed sources, some new details have emerged from the last morning of Hastings' life which ended June 18 when his speeding Mercedes Benz crashed into a palm tree on Highland Avenue near Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjaPHWNz

* Hastings was on his way to Las Vegas that morning. 

* A pedestrian was nearly hit by Hastings' Mercedes at the traffic light on Highland at WIlloughby Avenue about halfway between Melrose and Santa Monica Boulevard, where the Benz ran a red light.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhqKRugk8Q

* The momentary blip of light on the Mercedes before it hits the curb is from the brake lights 

 *  The first obvious "flash", internet-gossiped to be a small explosion that caused the rise the rear end of the car, was most likely caused by the front wheel being sheared off by the impact with the curb. The flash and the "rise" of the rear may have been the car rolling over that wheel. 

* There is no strong evidence to support the claim, stated in the coroner's report  (    Here ıs the full report. )  that Hastings was using, or had ever even used the hallucinogenic drug known as DMT.

 * Hastings had expressed an interest in running for political office in the state of Vermont. 

* Hastings had talked of opening a marijuana-themed resort in Vermont, even though he thought that idea would be used against him in his hypothetical run for office. 

* The beginning of the end of the car's fatal path, though not seen on tape, is the slight rise and fall at the crossroads of Highland and Melrose. At the speed the Benz is traveling through that corner. conservatively estimated  at 80 mph, the car rose up on its suspension, came down hard enough to leave marks on the street near the valet station of the Mozza restaurant triplex, and as the video picks up, swerves. 

******* 

In the interview, White presented a rational reason for what was the first major "flash" seen on the security tape that captured the crash. 

"The front driver's side front wheel was completely sheared off in the crash," said White. giving that first flash a possible origin. The wheel hits the curb at high speed, is probably torn off right there and the Mercedes Benz drives over it, causing not only the flash, but also the often-questioned raising of the car's rear end.

White confirmed that very first blip of light on the video is the brakes. The brakes most likely put the car into the swerve that sends it into the curb and ultimately crashing into the palm tree.  

 ***

Hastings was best known for his 2010 Rolling Stone profile of General Stanley McChrystal and his aides who bad-mouthed President Obama and V.P. Biden.  McChrystal was basically fired because of the article.   

McChrystal's army boss was Gen David Petraeus, was later brought in from  the battlefield and became CIA head in September, 2011. But, a scandal, an extra-martial affair with his  biographer, Paula Broadwell, brought him disgrace and he resigned in November, 2012. Reports have surfaced that Hastings was working on a profile of current CIA boss John Brennan.  That combination - McChrystal, Petraeus, Brennan - turbocharged conspiracy theorists.

White said she understood the interest in the death of Hastings and the numerous conspiracy theories put out on the internet. 

But, White once again ruled out any idea a  bomb was placed in the car or any other foul play. "In my investigation, it appears to be that nothing else was going on other than this was a accident. We may never know exactly why  he was speeding, but the speeding caused the crashed. This was, like I have said,  a tragic accident." 

One element of the crash "kinda astonished" White and her fellow investigators and that is the distance the ejected Mercedes Benz CL250 engine was catapulted away from the crashed car, about 170 feet.  

"He had to hit the tree at such speed and at just the right angle for the engine to go that far," said White, a 22-year LAPD veteran who has spent 18 years as a traffic investigator and has never seen anything like that.

"It was amazing," White said. "I don't know any other way to say it besides "amazing".  But, not amzing in a good way." 

NOTE

None of this report will sway -nor is it intended to sway -  anyone away from the belief Michael Hastings was killed by some type of black ops car hacking. A friend of mine told me "what you are writing proves nothing. It sure doesn't prove he wasn't murdered."  I agree, but I had a few more details that those following the case might find of interest. 

. 

.  

HASTINGS FAMILY TRIED TO GET HIM TO REHAB

AUGUST 20, 2013.     

Hopıng to get hım ınto rehab, a famıly member of Mıchael Hastıngs  arrıved ın Los Angeles from New York the day before he was kılled ın a fıery car accıdent,. the L.A. Coroner's offıce saıd Tuesday.

The famıly member stated that Hastıngs has 'pased out' sometıme between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m.., at least three hours before before the deadly crash on Hıghland Avenue just south of Melrose on June 18, accordıng to LAPD ınvestıgators..  Thıs famıly member belıeved Hastıngs had begun usıng DMT (Dımethyltrypta). Thıs drug, known as 'busınessman's trıp' or 'fantasıa', can cause 'ımpaıred judgement that often leads to rash decısıons and accıdents' accordıng to the Palo Alto Medıcal Foundatıon.  

 The offıcıal cause of death was 'massıve blunt force trauma consıstant wıth a hıgh speed front-end ımpact...'

The report states  'famıly had just arrıved from New York the day prıor attemptıng to get the decendant to go to rehab.' .Another famıly member was due to arrıve the mornıng of the crash.. 

The quoted famıly member saıd that Hastıngs 'belıeved he was ınvıncıble'  Hastıngs was sober for the past 14 years, but begun usıng drugs agaın ın the last month of hıs lıfe. No alcohol was ın Hastıngs system the reports states,  

The report also concluded that Hastıngs  had 'small amount of amphetamıne ın the blood, consıstant wıth a possbıble ıntake of methamphetamıne many hours before death unlıkely to have an ıntoxıcatıve effect at the tıme of the accıdent '.  

Here ıs the full report.

 Hastings, the 33-year old reporter best known for a profile that brought down a U.S. Army general, was killed in an explosive early mornıng car crash near Hollywood. His death immediately sparked internet claims of a 'black-ops' conspiracy.  

Thıs coroner's report ıs lıkely to muffle the conspıracy claıms.  

++ Thıs report was wrıtten on a Turkısh keyboard at a hotel ın Istanbul. Please overlook the even more than usual typos.

+++ If anyone has trouble pullıng up the lınked report, let me know. I wıll be travelıng ın the aır most of the day tomorrow. 

HASTINGS UPDATE August 16

When news broke that Michael Hastings had died in an explosive car crash near Hollywood, the internet soon was thriving with conspiracy theories. It was - and remains - a sensational story lurking for an evil plot.    

What I find strange is so many people, even if they are convinced that this was simply a horrible accident, so quickly dismiss those who are equally convinced it was a dastardly act that killed the investigative reporter on June 18..  

To the former, consider this:  A Russian investigative reporter whose article brought down the Red Army general in charge of Russian commandos, and who was working on a story about the head of the KGB, died in a fiery car crash in Moscow. Would anyone in the United States believe the "no foul play" party line?  Please. 

Moving on, not surprisingly,  there are Michael Hastings rumors floating on the internet that have no or little basis. One of them is that Hastings body was cremated against his family's wishes.  The Los Angeles Coroner's said Friday morning that is not true. While Hastings body was cremated, it was done so,- by a mortuary- at the request of a friend of Hastings' wife who had put him in charge of the matter, according to the coroner's office..

"His wife had a friend out here who made the arrangements for the body to be cremated,° said Ed Winter, assistant chief of operations at the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.   "The internet made it seem the city had burned the body to remove some kind of evidence. We didn't cremate his body, anyway. A mortuary did that."

Winder said that Hastings toxicology results would be made public "within days".

Another thought floating on the web is that Hastings' vehicle was traveling at only 35 miles per hour as it drove  down Highland Avenue heading toward doom.

That is not true. Not even close.  The Pizzeria Mozza security camera video that captures the crash shows several cars going by roughly a minute before Hastings' Mercedes enters the picture. The difference in speed is obvious, even startling. The Benz is going at least 80 mph, That's conservative.   

Videos of the crash on YouTube  have over 400,000 views.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjaPHWNzTHQ