FDL Man Charged With Homicide Hate Crime In Motorcyclist’s Death
10 July 2020 News
(Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s photo)
Bond was set at $1 million cash Thursday for a 27-year-old Fond du Lac man suspected of intentionally hitting and killing a motorcyclist with his father’s pickup truck last Friday night. Daniel Navarro was charged in Fond du Lac County Court with first degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon and first degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon both with hate crime enhancers. Fifty-five-year-old Phillip Thiessen of Fond du Lac died at the scene of the crash on Winnebago Drive. According to the County Medical Examiner Thiessen’s death would have been almost instantaneous. According to the criminal complaint Navarro felt he was a victim of racism and was targeted because he was Mexican. He told Sheriff’s investigators he believed he was intentionally poisoned by co-workers, a friend and a neighbor, and people were driving by his house revving engines and squealing tires to try and make him angry. He also blamed recent events and the racial climate in the country. Navarro said he picked hitting a motorcycle because he believed the person driving the motorcycle was white and in Wisconsin white people drive motorcycles and the Harley climate is made up of white racists. Thiessen was a former Marine, former Fairfax Virginia Police Officer and retired Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent, and a frequent volunteer at a local food pantry. Navarro will be back in court next Friday for a preliminary hearing.
Share |