Accused Palisades fire arsonist and Uber driver Jonathan Rinderknecht was an erratic driver who gave off “incel energy” and praised Luigi Mangione and vigilantism, several passengers testified during Rinderknecht’s trial this week.
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.
As an Uber driver, Rinderknecht’s profile on the app appeared under the name Jon Rinder. Around New Year’s Eve 2024 and New Year’s Day 2025, when he was accused of setting the Lachman fire — which authorities say became the deadly, destructive Palisades fire roughly a week later after burning underground for several days — Rinderknecht picked up passengers in a white Genesis GV60, which he had rented.
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.
Uber passenger Macy Miller testified that Rinderknecht picked her and three of her friends up at Nobu Malibu, where they had just finished dinner.
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 “A-list celebrities” at the restaurant. She was annoyed by the request and told her friends that it shouldn’t matter who a person is, because everyone is a “child of God,” as they got into the Uber.
“He kind of snapped at us about that,” she said of Rinderknecht, explaining that he chimed in and disagreed, seemingly mad about her comment.
Unnerved by his reaction and how fast he was driving on Pacific Coast Highway, she said, she tried to connect with him after he “lit up” when she mentioned Mangione, the accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter.
“Just kind of being… (he was) saying that’s a good thing and being pro-that (vigilantism),” she said. “It was kind of around that point that I could tell that the driver had really strong ideologies and stuff around that,” she said.
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.
“I didn’t feel very safe, I kinda had a pit in my stomach, which never happens, I’m not like a paranoid person,” she said. “I was just trying to make him like us so we got home safely.”
When the group reached their destination, a home in Santa Monica, Miller told her friend’s mother that the group had a “crazy” Uber driver, she said.
During cross-examination, Rinderknecht’s 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.
Another Uber passenger, Brennan White, who ordered a car to go from Venice to Sherman Oaks with his fiancee, Ashley Comandatore, on New Year’s Day 2025, described an “erratic” ride where the man behind the wheel — Rinderknecht — was driving recklessly and had “incel energy,” he testified on Friday, June 12.
“It was casual, small talk … as it progressed it turned into the Uber driver ranting, talking nonstop. Specifically about humanity, how it’s crumbling, his hate for Trump, how there’s no good women out here,” White testified.
His fiancee expressed being uncomfortable, but White indicated that she should be quiet, he said, as he didn’t know what would happen because of the erratic driving — mostly speeding and gesturing with his hands — and his very quick speech.
Haney questioned White’s recollection of the Uber ride and asked about the witness’s 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.
Comandatore, White’s fiancee, testified as well, recalling the driver’s anger about the presidential administration, which she said was focused on complaints about taxes and changes that would benefit the wealthy.
“Everything he was saying was with an aggressive tone,” she said.
The pair did not report Rinderknecht to Uber.
On New Year’s 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.
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’s 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’s Eve, so he told him he had been working at the steakhouse the previous night and asked what Rinderknecht had done.
“I just got the feeling that he wanted to have a conversation,” he said.
Rinderknecht said that “something crazy happened the night before,” but he kept things vague and Tichnell felt that he didn’t want to get into it, Tichnell said.
“He seemed troubled, he seemed like there was something going on, that he needed to talk,” Tichnell said.
But Tichnell did not feel threatened or get a negative feeling from Rinderknecht, he testified.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Palisades fire burned almost 23,500 acres, destroyed 6,845 homes and businesses and damaged another 975.
Rinderknecht faces charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.
His trial in federal court in downtown Los Angeles is expected to last another week.