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| Tue, 16th Jun 2020 17:21:00 |
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California utility PG&E pleads guilty to 84 wildfire deaths |
A California utility has pleaded guilty to the deaths of 84 people in a wildfire, the deadliest US corporate crime ever successfully prosecuted.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) admitted the 2018 Camp Fire, the state's deadliest and most destructive, was caused by its faulty equipment.
In the court hearing, a judge read the name of each victim aloud to the company chief executive.
The company will be fined millions of dollars, but no-one will go to jail.
Many of the Camp Fire's victims were elderly or disabled.
A number of them were found in burnt-out cars, killed as they attempted to flee the blaze with their family and neighbours.
Others were discovered in and around their homes, as some elderly residents decided against leaving early, not understanding the gravity of the threat.
In Butte County Superior Court on Tuesday, an image of each victim was displayed on a screen as PG&E's chief executive Bill Johnson pleaded to every single count of involuntary manslaughter, responding 84 times: "Guilty, your honour."
In a highly unusual US corporate acknowledgment of criminal wrongdoing, Mr Johnson apologised to the families, saying: "I've heard the pain and anguish.
"No words from me can ever reduce the magnitude of that devastation.
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