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How 4-Year-Old Police Dog Yoda Took Down Fugitive Danelo Cavalcante.
Moments after law enforcement officials spotted convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante’s head peeking through the underbrush, they released a police dog who bit and subdued Cavalcante, leading to his apprehension nearly two weeks after he escaped prison, officials said.
The dog, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois male named Yoda, was from one of two tactical teams that moved in on Cavalcante at around 8 a.m. in a wooded Pennsylvania area, ending an intensive manhunt that drew hundreds of law enforcement officials to the area without any shots fired during the arrest.
Yoda was a significant force in the takedown, preventing Cavalcante from using a stolen rifle in his possession that lay within arms-reach, said Lt. Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police during a news conference Wednesday.
“He was just essential as far as the tracking and searching, as were numerous other K9s that were here,” Robert Clark, supervisory deputy US Marshal for Pennsylvania’s eastern district, told CNN on Wednesday. “All these K9 resources were utilized from different tactical teams from the area, and they were just incredible resources.”
Cavalcante escaped from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, leaving the surrounding community gripped with fear as he evaded capture despite being spotted numerous times.
The 34-year-old was convicted last month in the 2021 killing of his former girlfriend, Deborah Brandão. He is also wanted in a 2017 homicide case in Brazil, a U.S. Marshals Service official said.
Cavalcante was captured in Chester County, swarmed by at least 20 law enforcement officers, Bivens said. Yoda joined the search from the U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Unit stationed out of Michigan, Clark told CNN.
Authorities say it took about five minutes from when authorities began moving in to apprehend Cavalcante, with Yoda’s help.
The ‘very important role’ of K9s
Police dogs play “a very important role” in tracking down and safely capturing an individual, Bivens said during the news conference.
“Far better that we’re able to release a patrol dog like this and have them subdue the individual than have to use lethal force,” Bivens said.
It’s standard practice for K9s to move first, going quickly and directly to a suspect on command, Bivens told CNN.
The dogs are trained to take a person “off guard” to prevent them from escaping or using any weapons in their vicinity. Their training grants officers a few extra seconds to approach the suspect and apprehend them without lethal force, Bivens added.
“They don’t just keep biting and releasing or trying to cause additional injury,” Bivens said, referring to how K9 dogs are trained.
“They simply grab onto and try and hold that person in place until officers can get there,” he added, noting police dogs are not meant to be released at a distance or without supervision. “There are officers close by who can then move in, the handler can Immediately pull the dog back off… and then officers take over from there.”
