Woman, 19, accused of cutting man with knife, spitting on officers, throwing police phone in Fox River Grove

A 19-year-old woman is accused of cutting a man’s face with a steak knife at a Fox River Grove motel, and then later spitting on two police officers and shattered a police phone Sunday night, according to court documents.

Faith A. Harnish, 19, of Fox River Grove, was charged with two counts of domestic battery, two counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and criminal damage to government property, according to records filed in McHenry County court.

Officers were dispatched at 9:53 p.m. Sunday, Fox River Grove Chief of Police Eric Waitrovich said. Harnish used what authorities described as a steak knife to cut the man on the right side of his face, according to the court documents. Later, according to court records, she spit on two Fox River Grove police officers and threw a landline police phone off a counter, shattering it. A McHenry County Sheriff’s Office K-9 also was kicked and spit on, Waitrovich said.

The man who suffered the laceration to his face was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington with “non-life-threatening injuries,” he said.

At an initial detention hearing for Harnish Monday, the state’s attorney’s office requested that she be denied pretrial release, arguing she’s a “real and present threat” to public safety. The request was granted and Harnish is due back in court Wednesday, according to court documents.

Harnish’s home address is listed as the River Inn Motel, located at 1000 Northwest Highway and where the alleged actions took place, according to court records.

The River Inn Motel is no stranger to police activity. The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office required the motel to add more security cameras to prevent overdose deaths at the motel last year.

State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said at the time there had been “dozens” of overdose deaths there. Overdose deaths are not the only calls. Waitrovich wrote in an email to the Northwest Herald last year that officers had responded to “general disturbances,” domestic issues and other calls to the motel and that “these issues are not limited or unique to” the motel.

Since last year, there hasn’t been “any increase or uptick” in crime at the motel, Waitrovich said Monday.

“We appreciate the help of the motel staff in maintaining their property,” he said. Hotel staff was “cooperative” and were the ones that called the police on the current allegations, Waitrovich said.