Clearwater, Florida -- A judge has ruled that the man accused of pushing his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge is incompetent to stand trial.
John Jonchuck will be sent to a mental health facility for treatment. A status hearing has been set for June 9th, to determine at that point if Jonchuck is able to stand trial for the murder of his daughter, Phoebe Jonchuck.
The tragic series of events that led to Phoebe's death and her father's arrest began shortly after midnight on January 8. According to the St. Petersburg police, officer William Vickers was off-duty and heading home, southbound toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge when a Chrysler PT Cruiser passed him going about 100 mph.
Vickers began to pursue the vehicle, allegedly being driven by Jonchuck.
Jonchuck pulled over and stopped near the top of the Dick Misener Bridge on the approach to the Skyway. The officer got out and began approaching the suspect.
"Subject got out of the vehicle he started saying something... the officer had no idea what he was saying," Police Chief Anthony Holloway said.
Holloway explained Vickers had no idea what would happened next: "The suspect then went to the other side of the vehicle, pulled out a child, put the child's face toward his chest and he walked to the side of the bridge. And he threw the child into the water."
Five-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck was dropped 60 feet off of the bridge and into the water, allegedly by her own father. Jonchuck then got back in his car and drove off, as Vickers ran over to see if he could locate the child in the water.
Phoebe was found about an hour later and taken to All Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Several dive teams were involved in the search for the child, including The Coast Guard. The child was recovered by dive teams from Eckerd College about a mile from the bridge.
According to Jonchuck's arrest affidavit, Phoebe was alive when she was thrown into the water, and appears to have drowned.
Doctors: Jonchuck incompetent for trial
Two doctors who assessed Jonchuck after his arrest determined he was mentally unfit to stand trial.
Ever since he first stood before a judge following Phoebe's death, his mental state has been questioned.
"It seems he has some issues touch of reality," says Karen Fultz, a professor at WMU Cooley Law School.
Pinellas County's sheriff says people suffering like Jonchuck need more resources.
"I can tell you here in Pinellas County, we don't have adequate case management," says Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
He says not only do we need case managers to keep up with those who have been Baker acted or admitted, "We need to expand crisis intervention training and those teams around the state," says Gualtieri.
So tragedies like Phoebe's may be prevented.
"Any time you have somebody that's done what he did has a history of mental health issues and mental health problems and certainly begs the question could something been done differently," Gualtieri says.
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