Lori Falce: Group shot spoiled picture-perfect ending to manhunt

For almost two weeks, Pennsylvania State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. marshals and other law enforcement were combing Chester County for one man.

Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante spider-walked up a wall in the county prison like a spy in an action movie. The man who brutally stabbed his ex-girlfriend in front of her daughter, 7, and son, 3, evaded capture for days on end. He stole clothes, changed his appearance and ate watermelons from a field to survive, showing up periodically on doorbell cameras.

People were afraid. Schools and businesses were closed. Police were everywhere. Sightings were tracked like an oncoming hurricane. And through it all, police faced repeated grillings at press conferences about what happened and how.

Everyone was relieved on Wednesday when Cavalcante was captured. Pennsylvania’s fourth prison break of the year was over.

But as it ended, the officers that hunted Cavalcante did something unusual. Philadelphia television station KYW captured a video. At least 30 law enforcement officers in camouflage gear with weapons and a leashed dog posed for a group shot with the restrained fugitive.

State police Lt. Col. George Bivens saw nothing wrong with it, saying the officers were proud of their work.

They should be proud of their work. They should not be proud of that picture.

The picture is grossly akin to posing with the carcass of a strung-up shark after a hunt. It is the kind of thing you see with a dead animal after a safari.

Apparently, it is something that is often done after an arrest. They aren’t usually the pictures we see of a prisoner and police. Those are the ones where the defendant or inmate is escorted in an out of a courthouse or jail. Police and prisoner are captured together by other cameras in the course of the process playing out.

But there is something unseemly and dehumanizing about the officers taking the picture themselves, posing and preening with a person the way they would with a 12-point buck.

It underscores the kind of detachment people have criticized when police misconduct has been captured by other cameras.

It is easy to roll the eyes and say “Hey, he’s a convicted killer. Do we have to be so precious about his feelings?”

No. To be honest, I don’t care at all about Cavalcante’s feelings. What I do care about are other group pictures that weren’t captured by a news helicopter.

Cavalcante was undeniably convicted of murder. Other people who are arrested have a presumption of innocence that must be preserved along with basic human decency.

Would we want to see FBI agents posing like this with Donald Trump? No. It would be disrespectful and disgusting. Would we want to see it with Hunter Biden? No. It would be unwarranted and unkind.

Would you want to have police take pictures like this when pulling you over for a traffic stop? No. It is simply unfair.

Police did a good job in not just recapturing an escaped criminal but doing so safely for all concerned. It was a difficult and dangerous task that could have gone very wrong very easily. It didn’t. They deserve all the credit in the world for keeping both the community and their quarry from harm.

The picture, however, is a chilling postscript that never needed to happen.