Leasa Hlavinka: Husband 'was a doting father'

Leasa Hlavinka, the Sidney dentist who was stabbed by her husband at their home Sunday night, blamed alcoholism for Dana Hlavinka’s actions.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday morning, Leasa Hlavinka said she is recovering well and anxious to leave the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo. She was airlifted there after being stabbed in a domestic dispute at the couple’s home on Clark Drive near the Hillside Golf Course.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the negative light cast on Dana in this awful situation,” Hlavinka wrote in the Facebook post. “The media tends to pick out all the bad in a person’s life and focus our attention that way. However, please don’t forget the loving, caring human being who lost his life too early. Dana was a doting father and extraordinary care giver. He was a loving husband, son, uncle, brother, friend and daddy. Alcoholism is a sad and scary disease that takes many lives each year.

“Thank you to everyone for their positive thoughts and encouragement regarding our recent tragedy,” continued Hlavinka, who owns LifeSmiles of Sidney. “My physical injuries could have been much worse so I’m thankful to be in the shape I’m in. I’m surrounded by amazing family and friends that give me strength to heal both physically and emotionally.”

The two officers who entered the Hlavinkas’ home were Sgt. Chad Borgmann and Officer Austin Smith, according to Sidney Police Chief BJ Wilkinson. They have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

This is the first officer-involved fatal shooting for the Sidney Police Department since June 20, 2010. That was when 29-year-old Marko Antonio Panduro was shot by Officer Randy VerMaas following a domestic dispute at the home of Panduro’s girlfriend.

On Sunday, Dana Hlavinka – armed with a knife – was killed by gunfire from Sidney Police officers responding to a 911 call from the residence shortly before 7 p.m., according to Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub in a statement released after the altercation. As police arrived on scene, Leasa Hlavinka was seen bleeding from her wounds and running away from the residence.

The Hlavinkas’ two young children were not at home at the time of the incident, according to multiple sources familiar with the case but who asked not to be identified. Those same sources said the children were at Leasa Hlavinka’s mother’s home at the time because Leasa was telling her husband on Sunday that she wanted a divorce.

“There was no history of violence in our 14 years of marriage,” Hlavinka also included in her Facebook post. “Dana loved me and his children passionately. I ask you to remember the good in Dana and the beautiful legacy he left behind in his children.”

Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s office has been appointed as the special acting county attorney in the case. The Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol responded to the scene following the officer-involved shooting and are also investigating.