A South Daytona man is accused of setting his neighbor's car on fire after making disparaging racial comments but police said Monday there is not enough evidence to charge him with a hate crime.
Joseph Minor, 56, was charged with arson causing damage to a structure and criminal mischief and damage to property of $1,000 or more. He was being held without bail on Monday.
"There is no pattern of behavior that would show this is a hate crime," said South Daytona police Capt. Mark Cheatham, adding that investigators looked at the call history at Minor's home for the past six months.
"The reality of it he was intoxicated," Cheatham said. "He had some mental lapse in judgment."
According to a report, police went to the South Daytona Towers apartments, 1910 South Palmetto Ave., at 2:15 a.m. Sunday after getting a report of a disturbance involving a vehicle fire.
Police investigations revealed that earlier in the night, Ronald Sweet was washing and waxing his car outside his apartment when Minor told him that Sweet's car was flashy and that "his days are numbered," the report said.
"I hate you (racial slur)," Minor said to Sweet, who is black, according to the report.
Sweet told police that after an argument with Minor, he and his girlfriend Cecilia Jones went indoors. About 10 minutes later, Sweet said he heard a "boom" and when he looked out of the window, he saw Minor walking away from his vehicle that had its front end on fire.
Jones also reported hearing Minor make the racial slurs and a threat to blow up Sweet's car, police said.
The car, a silver 2002 Mercury, sustained $5,000 in damages, investigators said.
Another resident, Charles Corey, said he went outside to move his vehicle away from Sweet's burning car and saw Minor walking away from Sweet's car holding a bag that he threw in a dumpster behind the apartment complex, investigators said.
After he was arrested, Minor told police that he was there to protect his father and that he was not doing anything that was out of the confines of the law, police said.
When asked what he meant, Minor responded, "That as long as nobody witnesses it, you won't get in to trouble for it," officers wrote in their report.
The State Fire Marshal was called to investigate the fire but initially, it appears Minor used an accelerant to burn the car, police said.
In Minor's pocket police found miscellaneous lists written on paper, a scrap of wood, a napkin and a disposable lighter, the report detailed.
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