PITTSBURGH (KDKA Newsradio) — A police dog is being called a hero after he helped end the two-week manhunt for Danilo Cavalcante on Wednesday morning.
After law enforcement finally surrounded Cavalcante in South Coventry Township, Chester County, U.S. Customs and Border Protection tactical officers released Yoda, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, to subdue him.
Yoda bit the escaped prisoner Cavalcante in the head among other places to prevent the convicted killer from getting his hands on a rifle he had stolen days before.
After triggering a massive search effort when he escaped from Chester County Prison in August, the convicted murderer was finally back in custody.
Pittsburgh-area dog trainer Paul Anthony joined the Big K Morning Show and explained how police dogs are used in these situations.
“You send the dog out. It finds the scent — okay here he is — it goes to the scent and he apprehends him,” said Anthony. “You just let the dog go or you have him on a long line for tracking and there you go.”
Cavalcante was taken into custody without a single gunshot fired.
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Anthony says the dogs are trained when they are puppies. From there, the best dogs are taken and trained in tracking, area searches, apprehension, and drug and bomb detection.
Anthony told officials in an interview police almost stepped on him numerous times during the search, and he was about 24 hours from heading to the Canadian border.
Cavalcante said he was going to carjack someone and head north.
Correction: A previous version of this article spelled Cavalcante's first name based on official law enforcement and court documents, which have been different from what's on customs documents.