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By Mike Peterson
Senior News Anchor/Reporter KMA AM and FM
kmaland.com
(Hamburg) — Bond is set at a million dollars on two suspects charged in a high-speed chase through two states early Wednesday morning.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says 28-year-old William Stanfill and 37-year-old Jaqueline Streich, both of Bellevue, were arrested on two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, felony assault with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, felony eluding, reckless driving and numerous traffic violations. Both suspects are charged in connection with a pursuit that began in Bellevue, and ended when their vehicle landed in the Nishnabotna River south of Hamburg. Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope tells KMA News Tabor Police spotted a dark blue Chevy Malibu entering the community on Highway 275.
“As they came through Tabor,” said Aistrope, “a city officer was in Tabor. They passed him on Main Street at 100-plus (mph). He started a pursuit when they got down toward Fremont-Mills School. The suspects fired a few rounds out the window at him. Then, he pursued them on south. I had a deputy that was in Sidney. He came north, and turned around and got in front of them just south of the Thurman corner there. When they pulled around to pass him, they shot at my patrol vehicle at least three times.”
Aistrope says Deputy Zac Buttercase was driving the sheriff’s office’s K-9 Unit vehicle. Buttercase was not injured. Both Tabor Police and the sheriff’s deputies continued southbound, pursuing the vehicle at speeds over 100 mph. Stanfill’s vehicle continued southbound into Sidney city limits. At speeds of 125 mph, the car traveled through Hamburg to the Missouri line, before it crashed into the Nishnabotna River.
“They went straight south of Hamburg on Washington,” the sheriff said, “went on down in there, and got kind of down in the island. Then, he (Stanfill) turned off on a gravel road, and it turned on a levy road. He vaulted off that levy into the Nishnabotna River down there. Then, that’s where our guys–after about 15-to-20 minutes of hunting for them–found them in the river, just laying along the bank.”
Stanfill and Streich were taken to Grape Community Hospital for injuries sustained in the crash, then taken to the Fremont County Jail. In addition, an Iowa State Patrol trooper was injured in a separate accident on Highway 275 near Grape Community Hospital. Trooper Scott Miller is public resource officer for the patrol’s Council Bluffs post. Miller tells KMA News that Trooper Dillon Malone’s vehicle crashed while responding to the chase.
“He (Malone) was in emergency mode,” said Miller, “traveling to back up those officers that were involved in that chase where the officers were being shot at, enroute to get into that pursuit, and help those officers out. He was involved in a crash, ended up in the front yard of one of the residences there north of Hamburg. The vehicle is totaled.”
Malone was airlifted from the accident scene to Nebraska Medicine, where he’s being treated for serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. Tabor Police and the patrol were among other law enforcement and rescue agencies responding to the chase. Others included K-9 units from Mills, Montgomery, Cass, and Shelby counties, Shenandoah Police’s K-9 Unit, Red Oak Police, Glenwood Police, and the Page County Sheriff’s Office.