Posted on 04/22/2015 5:40:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Machesney Park man is falsely accused of killing his girlfriend and holding a 7-year-old hostage.
It's called "swatting" and police say it's a growing trend. It's when a person calls in a fake police report with hopes of having someone else's home raided by law enforcement.
"I was sleeping, literally sleeping."
It was supposed to be like any other day for Drew Terpstra, that is until he opened up his bedroom door.
"I heard 'Police, police!' and I was like what's going on right now? I'm sleeping and all of a sudden, I get up, go out of my room and they're like 'get on the ground, get on the ground, hands up and all of sudden, I'm being shoved on the ground and handcuffed. They're like 'I hope this is some sort of joke,'" says Terpstra.
As he slept early Tuesday morning, the 23-year-old was unaware of the police presence outside has home. More than a dozen officers from four local departments had their guns drawn, all because of a phone call police received. The call was about an apparent homicide and hostage situation in Terpstra's house.
"We had our police response here because we have to take it seriously. As we got here and started to sort things out, it became obvious that it was not what it came in as," says Police Sergeant Doug Bushman with the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office. After being called by a neighbor, Terpstra's step-dad, Tim Delhotal rushed home to explain the impossibility of what they were told.
"I kept wanting to go in the house. They said 'you can't' and I'm like 'let me go in, I know it's fine.' So I gave them my keys and the garage door opener so they can go in both entries and then find out what I was certain was happening. Drew was in bed," recounts Delhotal.
Terpstra says he's glad that officers did their jobs and nothing went wrong, but unfortunately he says they were pulled away from much more important work.
Deputy Chief Scott Meyers says this is the second "swatting" call since December with all of the officers out on the scene, he says the call could have wasted a couple thousand dollars.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office has since followed up with the 9-1-1 call center to try to find the person who made the false report. Deputy Chief Scott Meyers says it can be time consuming and very difficult to trace, but not impossible. He says detectives are doing everything they can to find the suspect.
MACHESNEY PARK (WIFR) -- Hostage situations can be a tense and dangerous ordeal but in some cases, the person who police believe is holding a gun may not be armed or even know what's going on.
In one instance from Tuesday morning, a person was woken up by police presence surrounding his home.
It's called 'swatting'. It's where a person tricks emergency service using a false report to get police to head over to what they say is a critical scene -- and in this case, a homicide and hostage situation.
Winnebago County Deputies surrounded a house on Hawks View Drive in Machesney Park just after 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. Authorities were told Drew Terpstra had killed his girlfriend and was holding their seven-year-old daughter hostage. The problem is, the 23-year-old does not have a daughter or even own a gun. Police were allowed in after his stepdad arrived home and opened the garage door. A team then went in with their guns drawn and put Terpstra in handcuffs just to be safe.
"I was pretty pissed about it," says Terpstra. "I didn't know what was going on. I was getting arrested for who knows what I was just sleeping. It just sucked. That's the best way to put it."
After making sure the house was secure and the call was not true, deputies released Terpstra. He says he was a bit upset at the time. The 23-year-old says he does not know who would want to do something like this to him.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Office is now searching for whomever made the false report. They say they have to talk with the dispatch center to try and trace the call.
I believe there have already been cases of surprised citizens shooting back. I think there was a story along those lines in the last two weeks. I’m pretty sure there was an incident like that a couple of years ago where a cop was killed and the courts sided with the home owner.
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