(geeezzz god must be REALLY proud of him!)



By Michael P. McConnell, Daily Tribune Staff Writer

Suspect told police he was trying to purify teacher.

FERNDALE — A Ferndale man who attends Taft Education Center is accused of pouring a liquid on an English teacher and holding a lighter near her because he believed she was a witch.

"The suspect later told us he was trying to kill the witch by pouring holy water over her head," said Ferndale Detective Ken Denmark. "We confiscated two lighters from him and he was committed for psychiatric evaluation."

The suspect, Darin Najor, 20, faces a pretrial hearing Oct. 23 in Ferndale 43rd District Court on a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery. He was arrested and posted bond in the incident on Monday.


Najor threatened the teacher at the adult education school Sept. 11, police said. The liquid he poured on the teacher was nonflammable and the suspect carried it in a Gatorade bottle, police said.

The English teacher told police she had a discussion with Najor the day before the incident about "The Crucible," an assigned play by the late Arthur Miller set in 1692 that deals with events that led to the Salem witch trials.

Najor asked the teacher if she believed in witchcraft, police said. The teacher told him she did not believe in witchcraft and explained that the events in the play were a meta

phor for unjust persecution, police said.

"The suspect threw his homework papers on the floor and declared it was all blasphemy," Denmark said. "The next day he came up behind her chanting what sounded like religious verses while she was working at her desk."

He poured a liquid over her head and was holding a green barbecue lighter, she told police.

"He said he was trying to purify the witch," Denmark said.

Najor ran from the classroom and the teacher, a security guard and a school administrator confronted him smoking a cigarette outside the school at 427 Allen, police said.

"The suspect ran at the teacher and said he was going to burn the witch," Denmark said.

The security guard restrained the suspect and called police.

Contact Michael P. McConnell at mike.mcconnell@dailytribune.com or at (248) 591-2571.