Danny Nichols

The three-day search for a wanted Butler man accused of strangling his young daughter ended at church.

City police arrested 37-year-old Danny T. Nichols without any problems about 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Michael Church on Center Avenue.

“We were told by someone at the church that he wanted to turn himself in,” police Chief Bob O'Neill said Thursday. “I'm happy it happened without any incident.”

Nichols was later arraigned on a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. He is in the Butler County Prison on $75,000 bail.

Police had been looking for Nichols since about 6 p.m. Sunday when they were called to his house on Standard Avenue for a report that he was assaulting his 11-year-old daughter during the girl's visitation there.

Her mother, according to court documents, told police that she was on her way to a Pittsburgh hospital with her daughter.

Nichols, she alleged, had strangled the girl by placing his hands around her neck to the point that she had difficulty breathing.

The girl was subsequently treated for injuries that authorities say included petechiae to the eyes — which are red spots due to ruptured capillaries. Police that night obtained a search warrant for the home and a warrant for Nichols' arrest.

The Butler County Emergency Services Unit assisted police around 9 p.m. at the defendant's house. Authorities said that after getting no response, flash bangs and tear gas rounds were eventually fired inside the home.

But when police searched the house around 1 a.m. Monday, the suspect was not there.

It was not immediately clear why Nichols chose St. Michael Church to turn himself in. A woman who answered the telephone at the church Thursday referred all inquires to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

A call to the diocese was not returned.

O'Neill said Nichols made no statement upon being arrested.

“He's not cooperating,” the chief said.

His preliminary hearing is set for 1:15 p.m. Dec. 17