Police say Mastodon co-founder Brent Hinds was at fault for fatal motorcycle crash
Brent Hinds, the former Mastodon guitarist, died in a motorcycle accident in August. Now, a new police report claims that he was at fault for the accident that took his life.
Hinds passed away on August 20th at the age of 51 due to a motorbiking accident. The incident occurred at around 11:35pm, per a report from the Atlanta Police Department, which wrote: “Officers responded to an accident at the intersection of Memorial Dr. SE & Boulevard SE. Upon arrival, officers located an unresponsive male who was involved in the collision. The male appeared to be operating a Harley-Davidson during the time of the collision.”
The original report continued: “Medical personnel pronounced the male deceased. The other driver involved, a female who occupied a BMW SUV remained on scene. The APD Accident Investigations Unit responded to the scene to determine the circumstances.”
In the immediate aftermath, police stated their preliminary investigation suggested that Hinds died after the driver of the BMW SUV “failed to yield while turning left and collided into the male victim who was operating the Harley Davidson.”
However, a newly released crash report has claims that Hinds was at fault for the accident as he was speeding. The report, per Atlanta News First, detailed that Hinds was going anywhere between 62 and 68 miles-per-hour, in a zone that is 30 miles-per-hour.
This was backed up by two witnesses, who said that Hinds was “driving fast.” There is also video footage of the intersection, allowing the police to calculate his speed. It is not abundantly clear in the report whether the SUV driver turned at the change of the light from green to red, which dictates her fault in the incident.
Hinds originally founded Mastodon alongside drummer Brann Dailor, guitarist Bill Kelliher, and bassist Troy Sanders in 2000, but departed the group in March 2025. Though the band initially said this was “mutual”, only a week before his untimely death, Hinds said his bandmates forced his exit.
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