All hail the next Witchfinder General...

[pfloyd]

Police: Michigan teacher attacked over witch claim
by Associated Press
Wednesday October 08, 2008, 5:39 PM

FERNDALE -- An adult education student has been charged with threatening to burn his English teacher a day after asking her if she was a witch.

Darin Najor's class at Taft Education Center in Ferndale, Mich., had been studying Arthur Miller's 1953 play "The Crucible," the Detroit Free Press and The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak reported Wednesday.

The play is based on the 1692 Salem witch trials that saw about 20 people hanged.

Najor, 20, had asked the teacher on Sept. 10 if she believed in witchcraft. She told him she didn't, and said Miller's play really was about unjust persecution, Ferndale police told The Daily Tribune.

Najor then tossed his homework on the classroom floor "and declared it was all blasphemy," detective Ken Denmark told The Daily Tribune.

"The next day he came up behind her chanting what sounded like religious verses while she was working at her desk," Denmark said.

Some type of liquid was poured on her head. He also had a cigarette lighter and wanted to, in his words, "burn the witch," Denmark added.

Najor also said he was trying to purify her with holy water, Denmark said.

Police said the nonflammable liquid was carried in a Gatorade bottle.

Najor fled the classroom, but later was confronted in his car by the unnamed teacher and a security guard.

"He went at her with the cigarette" as if trying to burn the teacher, police Lt. William Wilson told the Free Press.

A 93-day misdemeanor assault and battery arrest warrant was issued and Najor was arrested Monday. He posted a $250 cash bond Tuesday, officials at 43rd District Court said.

An arraignment pretrial is scheduled for Oct. 23. He does not have an attorney.
The Associated Press left a message Wednesday seeking comment at a phone listing under Najor's name.



==================
The mind just boggles...