AVONDALE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Following escaped prisoner Danilo Cavalcante’s recapture Wednesday, Pennsylvania State Police took him to the barracks in Avondale for processing and questioning before sending him on to SCI Phoenix to serve out a life sentence for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao.
To the thrill of a cheering crowd gathered outside the barracks, Cavalcante was escorted out through the front door of the building and put into an armored vehicle waiting to take him to prison. Flanked by armed troopers and border patrol officers, wearing something like a hospital gown, his hands and bare feet were shackled.
Among the people gathered, Rafael Velazquez of West Chester said he thinks people were cheering for a mix of reasons — some for the man himself, and some because he was captured.
“I think it was mixed, because I think people feel sorry for him — and they feel happy for the police … for the capture.”
Chester County resident Heidi Neff was there with her five children. She said she homeschools her kids and she thought the field trip would be a great lesson in criminal justice .
“You can’t run from sin. It will always catch up to you,” she said. “And he thought that he was running and getting away with it, but it always catches up with you.“
Since escaping from Chester County Prison on Aug. 31, the 34-year-old Brazilian national seized the attention of the entire region while an intense manhunt closed in on him. Members of the community, on high alert for the last two weeks, stood by Wednesday, waiting to catch a glimpse. Some took pictures and videos. Some even posed for selfies.
Inappropriate, unethical and inhumane?
A group photo opportunity, with about two-dozen officers and federal agents in tactical gear posing in a half-circle around the handcuffed escapee, drew criticism from policing reform advocates and some members of the public.
The moment of the photo, taken minutes after Cavalcante was captured Wednesday morning, was captured on video from a CBS News Philadelphia helicopter.
Policing experts said the celebratory moment after the grueling 14-day search for the armed suspect was inappropriate and dehumanizing.
“It shows a systemic bias,” said Pavel Rozman, a Philadelphia immigration attorney. “Reveling in that photograph is unhelpful to individuals far reaching beyond the suspect. There's a right to be treated with dignity and with respect.”
Rozman says it also undermines the authority of police.
“The law enforcement's ethical standards should apply to everyone, regardless of their immigration status or otherwise. Trophy photos like that can obviously erode public trust in law enforcement agencies. I also think photos that prejudice public opinion compromise anybody's right to a fair trial. Specifically the one this morning I think was pretty unprofessional.
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For Niles R. Wilson, the senior director of law enforcement initiatives at the Center for Policing Equity and a retired police captain in Newark, New Jersey, these celebratory photos are reminiscent of photos taken during the Civil Rights era depicting police brutalizing people in order to suppress them.
“It is not appropriate. It is not ethical. It's really inhumane. I wish I could give you a reason that this happens. In my law enforcement experience I know how amped up police can get, but that's not an excuse to mistreat someone,” Wilson said.
“Did they consider any ethical dilemmas in doing that? Is there some discrimination in the situation? And I think they shouldn’t be patting themselves on the back too much for losing somebody out of prison for two weeks.”
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But at least one leader of the operation said he wasn't bothered by it. When asked about the criticism Wednesday, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens, who was in command of the search, said he is unconcerned.
“Those men and women worked amazingly hard through some very trying circumstances. They are proud of their work. I am not bothered by the fact that they took a photo with him in custody,” Bivens said.
“They kept the community safe. I say thanks to them and good job.”
Leonard Sipes, who worked for 35 years in public affairs and communications for federal and state law enforcement agencies, and is also a former officer, said he understands the inclination to celebrate after the dangerous and grueling conditions of trying to recapture someone who was armed and dangerous.
“The police had nothing to do with the release of the photo. It was made available by a news source,” Sipes said. “But posing with the suspect, that's questionable. If I was on the scene as the public affairs officer representing a law enforcement agency, I would have discouraged it.”
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State Police conduct policy
The Pennsylvania State Police has a conduct policy covering the use of social media that prohibits posting or forwarding images of state police investigations or operations, or content that depicts the agency’s uniform, badge or other official department gear without authorization. But it’s unclear if the photo Wednesday would be covered under that policy. Messages left by the Associated Press for a State Police spokesperson were not immediately returned.
Photos of Cavalcante immediately after being arrested, with the police dog pinning him down, circulated widely on social media Wednesday in the hours after the arrest was announced. The photos did not include information about who took them, but they were taken inside the secured perimeter where only law enforcement officers were allowed.
The Associated Press left messages seeking comment about the posed photo from the other agencies involved in the search, including the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration. A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent in charge said ATF officers were not part of the arrest and were not involved in the posed photograph.
In recent years, several officers around the country have been disciplined or fired for taking cellphone photos of suspects or during police operations, including one of the Memphis officers who was fired and charged with murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols in January. In documents submitted to request former officer Demetrius Haley be decertified as a police officer, it was revealed he had taken at least two photos of Nichols after the beating and texted them to at least five other people, against department policy.
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.