Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Was he a frustrated Uber driver with an axe to grind against the rich? Or is he a scapegoat for the failings of California firefighters? These are some of the questions that will arise when Jonathan Rinderknecht goes on trial Monday for starting the “Palisades Fire,” one of several deadly blazes that tore through the Los Angeles area in January 2025.
Federal prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on the New Year’s holiday in the mountains overlooking the ritzy Pacific Palisades. It was this initial blaze — which firefighters believed they had extinguished — that subsequently reignited on January 7, devastating the neighborhood and parts of the city of Malibu, prosecutors say. Twelve people died in the Palisades and thousands of homes were reduced to ashes. Overall, 31 people were killed in the January 2025 fires. Rinderknecht has denied all charges. Proceedings will begin Monday with jury selection and are expected to last more than a week.
Prosecutors portray Rinderknecht as a man outraged by capitalism, who allegedly torched the Pacific Palisades — a celebrity enclave where ocean-view villas are worth millions, and where he once lived — as an act of revenge. Two weeks before the act, the suspect’s internet search history listed queries such as “let’s take down all the billionaires,” according to court documents filed last month. He also searched the slogan “Free Luigi Mangione” — the man federal prosecutors say gunned down the chief executive of United Healthcare. Mangione has been hailed by some on social media as a modern Robin Hood, fighting against a rigged system on behalf of working people.
“Many of defendant’s Uber passengers on December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025 described defendant as angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism,” court documents said. Rinderknecht, who grew up in France, called emergency services himself before fleeing the scene on the night of the fire, prosecutors say. He was arrested in Florida in early October.
His primary attorney Steve Haney contends that the fire was instead set off by people using fireworks, and that his client was a “Good Samaritan” who called 911 a total of 17 times. Haney also says that Rinderknecht is being tried to paper over the failure of firefighters to extinguish the initial blaze, saying they bear significant responsibility for the ensuing tragedy.
© 2024 AFP
