Posted on 06/19/2013 4:04:13 PM PDT by jjotto
I think the accelerant involved was gasoline. From news accounts, the motor was ejected which means fuels lines would have been severed.
Excellent info!
The capability to have your engine and tranny eject upon impact is a little known feature of the C-class. It gives the crumple zones a little more working space.
All they had to do was let him know they had a juicy story.
Then, ask him to meet with them at 3am.
Then, they rigged his car.
I guess the fact he was burned to death would eliminate any messy autopsy that would tell us if he was ‘under the influence’. How convenient.
I would suggest an excellerent was involved.
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I concur ... however I’m going to go with the obvious accelerant , the gas in the tank ... sure the tank has passed all sorts of tests BUT it is a plastic tank and there is a good possibility that the rear axle or driveshaft ruptured it. The car could have been going as fast as 135...
I think from watching the video that “jackknife” means the driver lost control and hit the palm tree on the side causing the car to fold up like a knife.
It would take quite the banzai driver to manage that on suburban streets -- is that what we've got here?
I can’t seem to view the video but your explanation would make sense — if the car folded it did, in fact, resemble a jackknife.
Cars “jacknife” the way “clips” hold “bullets.” Journalists are idiots. The bottom of a college class used to be teachers. Now it’s “Journalists.”
According to MSN auto crash reports, he should of been able to walk away relatively unscathed in 40 mph offset crash.
Apparently Mr. Hastings was very agitated and paranoid about unauthorized access to his work just prior to his death, according to friends.
Add in the peculiar nature of the crash itself, and speculation is only natural, even logical.
... is that what we’ve got here?
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No idea , just speculation ,, however I would think the turbo would have been ejected with the motor and wouldn’t have been an ignition source..
I’ll take stupid kid , drunk/stoned/texting driving at speeds WAY above prudent for $1000 Alex.
It was what was reported to them by a witness. His name was Cortez and he ‘seen’ a lot. I suspect English isn’t his first language.
“I was just coming northbound on Highland and I seen a car going really fast, and all of a sudden I seen it jackknife,” said Luis Cortez, who witnessed the wreck.
“I just seen parts fly everywhere and I slammed on my brakes and stopped and tried to call 911,” Cortez added.
The engine of the vehicle was found in a yard about 100 feet away.
http://ktla.com/2013/06/19/driver-killed-in-fiery-car-crash-in-hollywood/#ixzz2WcDXWNjW
CC
They don't call it Cheap-Class for nothing!
Yeah, that it gasoline. How could I possibly think it was radiator fluid? My bad.
So the car hit, engine dropped out, car went air borne and swiveled in the air impacting on the palm tree in the center of the trunk (where the gas tank is under). Fuel pump and computer still attached, fuel injection lines not attached, fuel everywhere, electrical lines arcing (car battery is in the trunk). Result, airborne, possibly caught fire as it did so and impacted the tree. High rate of speed > 100 mph from timing of red light video tape.
Rear wheel drive.
I am sure General MacChrystal sends his condolences and solicitations.
Very ugly.
Big honking tree.
Probably hit amidships with an impact big enough to break the tank or rip a fuel line.
I imagine it burned a good while before the FD arrived since it was fully engulfed, at 4am may have taken a few minutes to get a 911 call plus travel time.
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