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Missouri man flies to California, sets 13 wildfires, then tries to fly home, cops say
A Missouri man flew to California, spent two days setting wildfires, then tried to fly home, officials say. He was arrested Monday.
Freddie Graham, 68, hopped on a flight from Missouri to San Jose last Thursday, KPIX reported. After renting a car, he spent the next two days setting fires as he drove the “narrow, windy roads” between Ed Levin Park and the Calaveras Reservoir in the foothills near San Jose, Deputy District Attorney Bud Porter said.
Officials say Graham would light pieces of paper on fire and then toss them out of his window as he drove, The East Bay Times reported. He’s believed to have set at least 13 fires — four on Friday and nine on Saturday — which are collectively referred to as the Reservoir Fire, officials say.
It took hours for firefighters to put out Friday’s blazes, officials say, but Saturday’s proved even more tenacious, taking firefighters the rest of the weekend to extinguish them, The East Bay Times reported. The fire burned more than 128 acres, though no injuries or damaged structures were reported.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DutchUncle on Tuesday October 29 2019, @01:12PM (1 child)
I stand by my original description, along with yours: "Stupid, reckless, and dangerous" to the point of "depraved indifference to human life." Had he been camping and made a cookfire (also against the rules under the current fire-risk conditions), and lost control of it, I might go with just "stupid, reckless"; tossing lit cigarettes out the window, "moronic and reckless"; but the witness report suggests deliberately trying to start random wildfires, which endangers everyone in the area, and especially endangers the firefighters who will be called to deal with it. I firmly believe that impact assessment of such actions should be multiplied by the breadth of the impact, because I'm really tired of excuses about "minor vandalism" cases that disrupt the lives of thousands or millions of people (messing with train brakes or track switches, stealing cables for the scrap metal value) and that would be considered sabotage or terrorism if done during wartime.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday October 30 2019, @02:37PM
The guy isn't getting random vandalism charges thrown at him, though. He's being charged with felonies that were designed to combat this kind of thing. If you can't see the difference between a rapist, murderer, arsonist, or a teenager who's spray painting graffiti, that's your own problem. Arson can definitely lead to homicide and/or murder, but in this case it's not clear that he intended to kill anyone.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"