In one of the most graphic and bizarre events ever to unfold on a Los Angeles freeway, a man with a gripe against HMOs parked his pickup truck on a busy freeway intersection Thursday afternoon, set it ablaze and then committed suicide--on live television--creating a nightmarish, miles-long traffic jam during the evening commute.
The incident at first appeared to be yet another of Southern California's now prosaic freeway chases. But as the situation developed, it soon became apparent that this was an anomalous, quintessentially Los Angeles story because so many disparate elements of life here had suddenly coalesced on that smoking freeway overpass.
The story had guns, traffic jams, cellular phones, swarms of news helicopters, desperate self-promotion--and a sudden, tragic, cinematic conclusion. And all of it caught on live television.
Authorities suspect that the man at the center of this maelstrom was Daniel V. Jones, 40, a maintenance worker at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach.
And Jones' neighbors, who witnessed the incident on television, confirmed that it was him.
Jones lived in a tiny, two-bedroom bungalow off an alleyway in Long Beach. The wood house is cloistered behind a tall wooden fence, with a sign on the gate that reads "Beware of dog." A dog accompanied him on his final journey and perished when the truck caught fire.
Long Beach police who entered the home looking for leads on any next of kin and clues as to how he came to this violent end said the house was a "typical bachelor's home," adequately furnished but cluttered. Although Jones was obviously agitated about HMOs shortly before his death, his Long Beach neighbors and fellow workers were not aware that he had any health problems.
But one friend, who asked not to be identified, said that Jones confided in him that three weeks ago he found a flesh-colored growth on his neck that continued to grow. He told his friend that doctors were unsure of its cause at first, but within the last week confirmed that it was cancer. The friend also said that Jones thought he was getting the runaround from his health insurer.
Jones' sister, Janet Jones, 38, told Associated Press that it was only at the time of the suicide that Jones' best friend told her Jones was HIV-positive.
Joachim H. Ortmayer, general manager of the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel, where Jones had been employed for about three years, said everyone at the hotel has health insurance, but it was not known which of several available plans the maintenance worker had been using.
