Sheriff: ISP trooper ‘inadvertently’ shot Whiteside County deputy in the foot

MORRISON – A State Police trooper “inadvertently” shot a Whiteside County deputy in the left foot Monday morning during an attempt to locate two suspects, Sheriff John Booker said in a news release this morning.

Deputy Derek Hamstra, 31, the department’s K-9 handler, is expected to be released from the hospital soon, maybe Thursday, Booker said Wednesday.

According to the release, State Police from the Sterling District 1 office responded to help deputies find the fleeing suspects, who subsequently were arrested.

During the search, “one bullet was inadvertently fired” from the unidentified trooper’s weapon, and hit Hamstra’s foot, Booker said in the release. The ISP Division of Internal Investigation is investigating.

Erik K. Jaramillo Garcia, 38, and Denise Nicole Williams, 31, both of Beloit, Wisconsin, each is charged in Whiteside County Court with two counts of burglary and misdemeanor trespass to a residence.

Garcia also is charged with two counts of aggravated fleeing an officer, a felony, and obstructing identification and leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, both misdemeanors.

Deputies responded to a call of two people sleeping or passed out in a car about 7 a.m. in the parking lot of the Forest Inn restaurant, 20657 Lincoln Road/U.S. Route 30 in Morrison. The two, who also are suspects in a bar burglary late Sunday or early Monday in Clinton, Iowa, fled at a high rate of speed, and deputies lost sight of them, Booker said.

At 8 a.m., the deputies received another report that the two had crashed into a Union Pacific Railroad crossing service box at Fulfs and Hillside.

The suspects the reportedly fled on foot and were tracked to a home where a garage had been broken into. Police discovered that someone had tried to hot wire a vehicle inside the garage and later found the two suspects hiding in a closet, Booker said.

Bond was set at $150,000 for Garcia, and $25,000 for Williams. Each has a preliminary hearing Oct. 18.