A gift that cost a deputy dearly

Wabasha County sheriff's deputy Andy Hamann was working Christmas morning so that his partner, who has two kids, could spend the day with his family.

Two hours into his shift, around dawn, Hamann was driving down a Wabasha city street, on his way to get gas. An oncoming motorist, driving what officers later identified as a stolen car, pulled out to pass another vehicle and struck Hamann's squad car head on, authorities said.

The deputy, 30, suffered broken ankles, legs, hip sockets and other bones and was reported in fair condition Monday at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The other driver, whom authorities identified as Brandon Lastine, 22, of Wabasha, was in critical condition, also at Mayo.

"He allowed me to take Christmas off and he worked," said his partner of three years, deputy Tom Sturgis. "He sacrificed Christmas with his family so I could spent it with mine. He is like that."

Hamann and his wife, Emily, had planned to celebrate Christmas on Sunday, followed by another special occasion: their first anniversary, next Sunday. Sturgis was the best man at their wedding a year ago.

Emily Hamann said her husband will be hospitalized at least a few weeks and will have more surgery to reconstruct his shattered right ankle and repair a tendon torn off his left knee cap. "He is doing as well as can be expected considering all his injuries," she said.

"He only has one workable limb, his right arm," said Sheri Hamann, the deputy's mother, who also was at the hospital on Monday. "He was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Hamann's parents brought him a Christmas gift, which his wife opened; it was a dress coat. "There's a lot more presents to open," she said. Sheri Hamann said that her son loves watching his two nephews and his niece open presents and that the kids are waiting until he's better to open their gifts from him.

"I concentrate on being thankful that he is here, and that we are going to work on getting him better," she said.

Emily Hamann, a physician's assistant in orthopaedic surgery at Mayo, said she is grateful that her husband suffered no head or spinal injuries. "Bones will heal eventually," she said. "It will be bad for a while and a long road, but we are very thankful it wasn't worse."

She also noted that "we've had a ton of support from deputies and their families -- people we know and some we don't know, calling and stopping by. ... He is in great spirits."

Emily Hamann said she and her husband will celebrate their first anniversary at Mayo on Sunday. "It's not exactly what we had planned," she said with a laugh. She said she hopes they can take a trip somewhere after her husband recovers.

Andy Hamann had wanted to be an officer since seventh grade, his mother said. He graduated from Chatfield High School and earned a law enforcement degree at Rochester Community Technical College, where he graduated in 2003 with Sturgis.

Sturgis said Hamann is a caring guy with a sense of humor who is well liked in the Sheriff's Office, which has about 25 employees. Sturgis said Hamann talked him into playing on the department softball team last summer.

"He was all about softball and golf and snowmobiling," Sturgis said. "He'll have to make some adjustments."

Sturgis stopped at Mayo on Saturday to see his partner, who was medicated and couldn't talk. Sturgis said he told Hamann that he was glad he survived the crash and that it's just a matter of time before they're back on the road again.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658