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.
