Court Orders Competency Evaluation for Nitek

The man charged with shooting and killing Rusk County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Glaze appeared in Rusk County Circuit Court Tuesday, February 7, 2017, and a competency evaluation was ordered.

Rusk County Circuit Court Judge Steven Anderson ordered that Doug Nitek, charged in the shooting death of Rusk County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Glaze, undergo a Competency Evaluation.

Nitek appeared before Judge Anderson on the 31 counts filed against him after the October 2016 incident in which Deputy Dan Glaze was killed.

Nitek is charged with 1^st Degree Intentional Homicide in Glaze's death, along with 2 counts of Attempted 1^st Degree Intentional Homicide against two more deputies who were on scene during that incident. Additionally, Nitek is charged with 17 Counts of 1^st Degree Reckless Endangering Safety While Armed with a Dangerous Weapon for his actions against other officers who assisted during the situation. Nitek also faces charges of Possession of a Firearm as a Convicted Felon, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Criminal Damage to Property While Armed with a Dangerous Weapon, and Felony Bail Jumping While Armed with a Dangerous Weapon.

According to public records obtained and reviewed by DrydenWire.com, on October 29, 2016, when Deputy Dan Glaze responded to the call of a suspicious vehicle, his squad car camera recorded gun shots coming from Nitek's vehicle moments after Glaze initiated contact with Nitek's vehicle. Glaze called for back-up, but by the time other officers arrived, Glaze had already suffered gunshot wounds.

Multiple officers arrived on the scene from both the Rusk County Sheriff's Office and the Ladysmith Police Department. They were not able to immediately rescue Glaze from his squad car due to the continued gunfire coming from the area where Nitek's trailer was located.

Assistance was requested from law enforcement in Barron County, Chippewa County, Washburn County and Eau Claire County as well from the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation.

Officers ultimately took Nitek into custody and subsequently searched his vehicle and the trailer which was on the property and appeared to be his residence. The Wisconsin State Patrol's Technical Reconstruction Unit later mapped out the entire scene and this team were able to map out the trajectory of the majority of the gunshots fired by Nitek. Bullet fragments were recovered from inside Deputy Glaze's squad car and analyzed by the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory; the results of which tests confirmed that these bullets were a match to the rifle identified as belonging to Nitek.

According to public record, Nitek has a lengthy criminal history and was convicted of 4^th Degree Sexual Assault in Rust County Circuit Court in 1993. He was also convicted of Felony Fleeing an Officer in Rusk County in 2014. Nitek has an active case on the Sawyer County Circuit Court docket charging him with Felony 1^st Degree Reckless Endangering Safety, Resisting or Obstructing, Criminal Damage to Property, and Failure to Install or Tampering with an Ignition Interlock Device. He is scheduled to appear again in Sawyer County Circuit Court in July 2017.

Nitek's Competency Evaluation hearing in Rusk County is set for April 18, 2017.

The Court also granted the State's motion for a Cash Bail Bond of $1 Million on Nitek.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Offender Locator website, Nitek is currently incarcerated at Dodge Correctional Facility in Waupun, WI.

DrydenWire.com reminds our readers that individuals charged with a crime are presumed innocent until convicted by a judge or jury.