By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The state’s assessing the damage to the statue of Martin Luther King Jr., on the Capitol complex, while a man faces a charge of criminal damage to state property.

“Sunday evening, we estimate about 11:00,” said Dave Druker, a spokesman for the Illinois secretary of state’s office, “a person came up to the statue of Dr. King and toppled it.”

That man, says Druker, is Fernando Garcia Martinez. Druker says so far, the evidence may not support a hate crime.

Still, the fact that the statue is of King is troubling to Secretary of State Jesse White – for whom King was a pastor and a mentor during White’s college days in Alabama.

Dave Dahl can be reached at news@wjbc.com