Middletown Woman Interrupts Burglary

Post from Middletown CT Police K-9 Unit:

On the afternoon of Wednesday July 22, 2015, a Middletown resident returned to her home on Court Street and interrupted an active burglary. The homeowner was able to get out of her home safely and immediately called 911 for help.

Officers from the Patrol Division arrived on scene and established a perimeter to secure all points of escape. The homeowner believed that the suspect fled to the basement and was still somewhere inside the residence. Officer William Maio and his partner, K-9 Judge were called out to the scene to assist.

Upon arrival, K-9 Judge was deployed off leash and went down the stairs of the Bilco cellar door, after verbal announcements for the suspect to come out failed.

During the search, K-9 Judge was alerted to an area in the basement where there was an elevated crawl space. Initially a visual scan of the crawl space revealed no sign of the suspect.

Maio then made another announcement, again ordering the suspect to come out and surrender to police; still no response. Officer Maio then assisted K-9 Judge up to this elevated crawl space and K-9 Judge began to search this area.

Within seconds K-9 Judge located and engaged the suspect who was hiding under layers of insulation. The suspect then started to struggle with the K-9 Judge. Despite this, K-9 Judge continued to engage the suspect and prevented him from escaping.

At this time Officer Maio gave verbal commands ordering the suspect to show his hands. Once the suspect showed that he wasn’t armed, Officer Maio recalled K-9 Judge and the suspect was ordered to climb out of the crawl space; to which he complied.

The suspect was then taken into police custody without any further incident.

“Well done Officer Maio for reading and interpreting K-9 Judge’s body language when K-9 Judge alerted on the crawl space in the basement; thus indicating where the suspect was hiding,” Middletown Police said. “It should also be mentioned that patrol officers did a great job isolating and containing the suspect in the basement prior to the K-9 team’s arrival. Thanks to the cooperative effort of all officers involved, the suspect was quickly apprehended and taken into custody. This prevented the suspect from escaping and carrying out his felonious activity while keeping the homeowner safe from harm.”