….But doesn’t speak English. Note Daniel Santiago Serna, the truck driver charged in the deaths of two motorcyclists following an accident on Interstate 85.
Serna was initially charged with one count of misdemeanor death by vehicle and felony hit-and-run after one motorcyclist died at the scene:
Serna appeared before retired Guilford County District Court Judge Sherry Alloway. She continued Serna’s bail at $100,000.
Serna, an American citizen, doesn’t speak English.
“The arrest was illegal,” he told Alloway through an interpreter during his first court appearance. “None of the police officers spoke Spanish, and I didn’t try to run away.”
Alloway admonished Serna, telling him that the appearance was not the time to “tell his side of the story.”
Serna has since been charged in the death of a second motorcyclist who died at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.
There is an English exception and accommodation on the naturalization test, but it appears Serna does not qualify.