Police: Ex-MASTODON Guitarist BRENT HINDS Was At Fault For Motorcycle Crash That Took His Life
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According to Atlanta News First, police have determined that former MASTODON guitarist Brent Hinds was at fault in the motorcycle crash that took his life last month.
Brent was reportedly riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle late on August 20 when he was hit by an SUV turning left and failing to yield at the intersection of Memorial Drive SE and Boulevard SE, less than two miles from downtown Atlanta, according to Atlanta police.
Hinds was found unresponsive by officers who responded to the crash around 11:35 p.m. and was pronounced dead by medical workers.
According to a newly released crash report, investigators found that Hinds was at fault for the accident because he was speeding. Relying on video of the intersection, investigators calculated that the musician was going between 63 and 68 mph, which is roughly twice the speed limit at the crash site, the report said.
"After conducting time distance calculations of the motorcycle and assessing the changes in velocity of the BMW, it was deemed that Hinds was traveling between 63 and 68 mph," the Atlanta Police Report report says.
"Video of the intersection was used for the calculations. The video clearly depicts the crash," APD said in their report. "Hinds was at fault for the crash."
A previously released incident report uploaded online by the Atlanta Police Department revealed that the driver who hit Hinds remained at the scene and spoke with investigators. She told the police that she was "positive the light was green" as she turned and kept going straight when she hit Hinds on his motorcycle. However, one witness who spoke to officers said that he looked at the light at the time of the incident and saw it was red. The same witness and a second witness both said that Brent was "driving fast" when the crash occurred.
A 911 caller who said one was "two cars back" from the accident described seeing Hinds going "up in the air" immediately following the impact and spinning "a couple of times. And then he fell. It looks like his left leg buckled over his right leg. I was two cars back, so I didn't get to see the full impact, but I heard the impact and [saw Hinds] spinning."
The reporting police officer wrote: "At the moment I arrived on scene [Hinds] was breathing and moving with visible injuries to his head, arms and torso. He was transported … to Grady [Memorial Hospital] where he perished from his injuries."
In March, MASTODON revealed that the band and Hinds had "mutually decided to part ways" after "25 monumental years together."
Since 2000, Hinds had served as lead guitarist and vocalist for MASTODON, alongside bassist/singer Troy Sanders, drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor, and guitarist Bill Kelliher.
MASTODON's lineup had remained the same for 25 years, recording eight studio albums, beginning with 2002's "Remission" until the band's latest LP, 2021's "Hushed And Grim".
Hinds later claimed he had been ejected from MASTODON and called his former bandmates "horrible humans" in a social media post.
Hinds was involved with several music projects apart from MASTODON, including the group GIRAFFE TONGUE ORCHESTRA — alongside members of THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and ALICE IN CHAINS — as well as LEGEND OF THE SEAGULLMEN and the long-running project FIEND WITHOUT A FACE.
More recently, Hinds had a tour, "An Evening With Brent Hinds", set for November and December throughout Europe.
"I'm a free spirit," Hinds said in the MASTODON documentary "The Workhorse Chronicles". "I enjoy life and I live it to the fullest."
Brent played his first show since exiting MASTODON on March 21 with his band FIEND WITHOUT A FACE at 529 in Atlanta, Georgia.
MASTODON recruited Ben Eller, a guitarist known for his popular YouTube channel, to step in for Hinds when the band played at TOOL's "Tool In The Sand" festival in the Dominican Republic in March. For MASTODON's spring 2025 tour and other recent shows, the band enlisted Canadian musician Nick Johnston. Johnston has six solo records under his belt, and has also worked with POLYPHIA, Guthrie Govan, PERIPHERY and many others.
(Source: www.blabbernouth.net)
