But the landlord told the Sun-Times he is being falsely accused. Carlson claimed a witness saw the brewery burning before the fire spread to all four floors of his apartment building.

“It’s all about a landlord being guilty until they prove themselves innocent, right?” Carlson said. “As a landlord in the city of Chicago, guilty until you prove yourself innocent instead of the opposite way around. Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Carlson said he got a message from the daughter of a tenant saying “she saw the Hippo, Hippo whatever it is, burning. And then the fire spread to my building, not the other way around. That’s it.”

He added that the brewery “had the highly flammable materials in there. I don’t blame anybody. But why are they blaming me?”