Uber Driver Charged with Starting Los Angeles’ Palisades Fire

An Uber driver hailing from Melbourne, Florida has been arrested and accused of starting the Palisades Fire near Los Angeles that devastated neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

Jonathan Rinderknecht has been charged. Authorities accuse him of starting a smaller brush fire called the Lachman Fire. It was quickly put out by firefighters but sat smoldering underground for days before bursting back into flames.

He is said to have made a call from his cellphone to 911 to report a fire but couldn’t reach it because of poor service. At that point he asked ChatGPT, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes.” The ChatGPT response was, “Yes.”

That was found on his phone along with the emergency calls placed to 911.

Police also tracked his movements via video surveillance and his phone is said to be the only active phone found in that field at the time the fire began.

While the Lachman Fire did not burn long, once ignited, the Palisades Fire burned 23,000 acres, destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses and killed 12 people. To date, the thousands of claims from the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire have cost insurers $4.2 billion.

If he’s eventually found guilty, Rinderknecht could get five to 20 years in prison.

Source link: Insurance Business America — https://bit.ly/4nTDSpQ