A Wisconsin man facing homicide and hate-crime charges for purposely crashing into a motorcyclist with his pickup truck has been declared incompetent to stand trial and committed to a psychiatric facility.
The Mexican-American man, 27-year-old Daniel Navarro of Fond du Lac, last July rammed a motorcycle driven by Phillip Thiessen head-on, killing him, telling authorities he did so because Thiessen was white. He was charged with homicide as a hate crime.
Two psychiatric evaluations prompted Fond du Lac County Judge Richard Nuss to rule on Wednesday that Navarro is incompetent — he doesn’t understand the court proceedings and can’t assist in his own defense, WLUK-TV reported.
He had already told prosecutors that “if President Donald Trump and white people are going to create the world we are living in, he has no choice and that people are going to have to die,” Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt said at a news conference at the time, according to WLUK.
Navarro also said he had been a target of racism for being Mexican, claiming that people would drive by his house, rev their engines and squeal their tires, and that coworkers and neighbors had not only harassed him but also poisoned and drugged him.
He chose Thiessen, a retired special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a former police officer, just because he was white, Navarro told police.
During an interview at the sheriff’s office, Navarro said he wanted to go to prison for the rest of his life so he could be free from his neighbors, who he could hear making racist comments through the walls of his house, according to a criminal complaint.
With News Wire Services
