Man barricaded in rural Rock Falls home surrenders to police

ROCK FALLS — Police from the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office and the Rock Falls Police Department took a man into custody Monday at a residence in rural Rock Falls along Walnut Street in the Yeowardsville neighborhood.

Dayton Hicks, 27 of Sterling, was taken into custody at 10:25 a.m., Whiteside County Sheriff John Booker and Rock Falls Police Chief David Pilgrim both said.

The Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office and the Rock Falls Police both issued news releases on the incident.

The arrest was made approximately five hours after Rock Falls began investigating a report of a battery at another location, the 1900 block of Canal Street in Rock Falls. According to people at the scene, a person reported being having been battered and the suspect fled before police arrived.

Police then learned the suspect was at a residents in the 2000 block of Walnut Street, Rock Falls police said.

Police secured the safety of two people — a small child and an adult — on the first floor of the residence, and began negotiating with the suspect, the sheriff’s report said.

A negotiator with Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office used a cell phone to negotiate with the suspect after the first floor had been secured.

The suspect and female of undetermined age were reportedly barricaded in an upstairs bedroom. They surrendered to police, the sheriff’s report said.

The sheriff said the arrest was on an outstanding warrant for unlawful use and/or possession of a firearm by a felon. Bond for the suspect was set at $150,000, the sheriff’s release said.

After the suspect was transported to Whiteside County Jail, a search was conducted of the residence.

A semiautomatic handgun was recovered. The weapon matched the one described in the initial battery complaint, the Rock Falls police report said.

Rock Falls Police Department then submitted complaints to the Whiteside County state’s attorney, which will review them. The complaint asks the suspect be charged in domestic battery, aggravated battery, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and unlawful use of a weapon.

Both reports said officers with Sterling Police and Illinois State Police were also on the scene.

This story was updated after the release of a second police report sent by Rock Falls Police Department on Tuesday afternoon.

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Whiteside County, Rock Falls, Sterling and the Illinois State Police responded to an individual who barricaded himself into a house on Walnut Street in Yeowardsville, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Alex T. Paschal — apaschal@shawmedia.com/credit)