October 2018 Catch

OFFICER ZACH ELFREICH

K-9 ARLO

EVANSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT (INDIANA)

At approximately 1534 hours, Officers observed a subject at the front door of a residence. Both officers are familiar with the subject and knew he had an active felony warrant out for his arrest. Once they parked and approached the house, they were unable to locate the subject. They also observed that the front door, which had been open, was now closed. Once I arrived, I attempted to make contact with someone inside the residence. After failed attempts to make contact, Officers Juncker, Jones, and I cleared the main level of the house. Once it was cleared, the neighbor advised that there was an outside door that leads to a basement, which is shared by other tenants of the building. I unlocked the door and yelled for anyone in the basement to come out. After receiving no response, Officer Jones and I began to clear the basement. As I looked into the crawl space, I could partially see the subject concealed toward the back. Since the subject did not respond to my commands to come out and since it was unknown if the subject was armed, myself and Officer Jones backed out of the basement.

I retrieved K9 Arlo from my car and took him the basement door. There, I yelled two K9 warnings. The first warning was "Police Department K9, anybody in there come out now or my dog will bite you". After receiving no response, I yelled another warning "Police Department K9, anybody in the basement come out now or my dog will bite you". After receiving no response to either warning, I released K9 Arlo and commanded him to locate the suspect. Arlo went into the crawl space, at which time I heard movement. I began to yell commands at the subject to show me his hands. As I went farther back, I could see that the subject was holding something and that he was moving away from Arlo and me. I grabbed hold of the subject and attempted to hold him still until Officer Jones arrived. Officer Jones held onto the subject and I exited the crawl space to retrieve my K9 partner, who apprehending the subject on the right foot.