{"id":14784,"date":"2026-06-13T04:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14784"},"modified":"2026-06-13T04:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:04:26","slug":"palisades-fire-defendant-drove-erratically-ranted-to-uber-passengers-witnesses-testify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14784","title":{"rendered":"Palisades fire defendant drove erratically, ranted to Uber passengers, witnesses testify"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Accused Palisades fire arsonist and Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknecht was an erratic driver who gave off \u201cincel energy\u201d and praised Luigi Mangione and vigilantism, several passengers testified during Rinderknecht\u2019s trial this week.<\/p>\n

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Police officers who pulled Rinderknecht over on January 1, 2025, also took the stand, recalling Rinderknecht talking about a fire in the Pacific Palisades and showing them a video of it.<\/p>\n

As an Uber driver, Rinderknecht\u2019s profile on the app appeared under the name Jon Rinder. Around New Year\u2019s Eve 2024 and New Year\u2019s Day 2025, when he was accused of setting the Lachman fire \u2014 which authorities say became the deadly, destructive Palisades fire roughly a week later after burning underground for several days \u2014 Rinderknecht picked up passengers in a white Genesis GV60, which he had rented.<\/p>\n

As a driver, he had a rating of 4.98 stars out of 5 and had never been suspended for any interpersonal reasons, Jeffrey Crowley, director of global investigations at Uber Technologies testified.<\/p>\n

Uber passenger Macy Miller testified that Rinderknecht picked her and three of her friends up at Nobu Malibu, where they had just finished dinner.<\/p>\n

At the upscale sushi restaurant, Miller had been taking a photo of the water when a waiter approached her and asked her to stop, citing the presence of \u201cA-list celebrities\u201d at the restaurant. She was annoyed by the request and told her friends that it shouldn\u2019t matter who a person is, because everyone is a \u201cchild of God,\u201d as they got into the Uber.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe kind of snapped at us about that,\u201d she said of Rinderknecht, explaining that he\u00a0chimed in and disagreed, seemingly mad about her comment.<\/p>\n

Unnerved by his reaction and how fast he was driving on Pacific Coast Highway, she said, she tried to connect with him after he \u201clit up\u201d when she mentioned Mangione, the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust kind of being\u2026 (he was) saying that\u2019s a good thing and being pro-that (vigilantism),\u201d she said. \u201cIt was kind of around that point that I could tell that the driver had really strong ideologies and stuff around that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After noticing that he was playing French electronic dance music, Miller testified that she asked him about Marine Le Pen, a far-right French politician, to ascertain his political views. He responded to the effect that he hated the politician and that anyone who supported her deserved to die, Miller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel very safe, I kinda had a pit in my stomach, which never happens, I\u2019m not like a paranoid person,\u201d she said. \u201cI was just trying to make him like us so we got home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the group reached their destination, a home in Santa Monica, Miller told her friend\u2019s mother that the group had a \u201ccrazy\u201d Uber driver, she said.<\/p>\n

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During cross-examination, Rinderknecht\u2019s attorney, Steve Haney, asked if Miller or anyone else in the car had asked to stop the ride or get out, or reported Rinderknecht to Uber. They did not.<\/p>\n

Another Uber passenger, Brennan White, who ordered a car to go from Venice to Sherman Oaks with his fiancee, Ashley Comandatore, on New Year\u2019s Day 2025, described an \u201cerratic\u201d ride where the man behind the wheel \u2014 Rinderknecht \u2014 was driving recklessly and had \u201cincel energy,\u201d he testified on Friday, June 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was casual, small talk \u2026 as it progressed it turned into the Uber driver ranting, talking nonstop. Specifically about humanity, how it\u2019s crumbling, his hate for Trump, how there\u2019s no good women out here,\u201d White testified.<\/p>\n

His fiancee expressed being uncomfortable, but White indicated that she should be quiet, he said, as he didn\u2019t know what would happen because of the erratic driving \u2014 mostly speeding and gesturing with his hands \u2014 and his very quick speech.<\/p>\n

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Haney questioned White\u2019s recollection of the Uber ride and asked about the witness\u2019s alcohol consumption that night, which he had told LAPD detectives about in his initial interview. White, who did not think he was drunk, maintained his recollection of the evening.<\/p>\n

Comandatore, White\u2019s fiancee, testified as well, recalling the driver\u2019s anger about the presidential administration, which she said was focused on complaints about taxes and changes that would benefit the wealthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything he was saying was with an aggressive tone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The pair did not report Rinderknecht to Uber.<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Day 2025, Brian Tichnell called an Uber to take him home from his shift at a Santa Monica steakhouse just before 11 p.m. As he waited for the ride-share, he noticed that the GPS in the app showed the driver nearby, but stopped. He got in contact with the driver, Rinderknecht, who he said he was sorry, he had been pulled over by police.<\/p>\n

Tichnell walked over to the location the GPS showed the driver, as it was only a block away from where he was, where he saw Rinderknecht\u2019s car. He did notice that the license plate on the car did not match the plate number listed on the Uber app, but he had experienced that before, so he got in the car. Tichnell testified that he does not often converse with ride-share drivers, but Rinderknecht started a conversation with him about what he had done for New Year\u2019s Eve, so he told him he had been working at the steakhouse the previous night and asked what Rinderknecht had done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got the feeling that he wanted to have a conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rinderknecht said that \u201csomething crazy happened the night before,\u201d but he kept things vague and Tichnell felt that he didn\u2019t want to get into it, Tichnell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seemed troubled, he seemed like there was something going on, that he needed to talk,\u201d Tichnell said.<\/p>\n

But Tichnell did not feel threatened or get a negative feeling from Rinderknecht, he testified.<\/p>\n

Two Santa Monica police officers, Andrew Castillo and Sergio Castillo, who pulled Rinderknecht over that night, also took the witness stand. The officers said they saw Rinderknecht cut across two lanes to make a left turn. When the officers approached his car and told him he was driving erratically. Rinderknecht, wearing a black sweatshirt, brown leather jacket and a black Adidas hat, was smoking a cigarette, which the officer asked him to put out.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors showed body camera footage from the traffic stop, where Rinderknecht could be heard talking to an officer about being in the Palisades, a fire there the previous night and the fire being on a hill.<\/p>\n

As Haney cross-examined the officers, they agreed that Rinderknecht did not flee or try to get away at a high rate of speed, complied with all commands, was friendly in demeanor, did not seem agitated, and was not argumentative.<\/p>\n

He just showed a video of a fire to them, the officers said, and did not seem to be trying to hide or conceal anything.<\/p>\n

The Palisades fire burned almost 23,500 acres, destroyed 6,845 homes and businesses and damaged another 975.<\/p>\n

Rinderknecht faces charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.<\/p>\n

His trial in federal court in downtown Los Angeles is expected to last another week.<\/p>\n

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The Palisades fire trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht: What you need to know<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n