Leftists cry foul over 'photo op' of law enforcement around captured illegal alien fugitive — a convicted killer. But state cop shoots them all down.

As you might expect, leftists got their panties in a bunch over law enforcement posing for photos Wednesday morning around captured illegal alien fugitive Danelo Cavalcante, a convicted killer who escaped from prison two weeks ago.

Video of law enforcement readying their pose begins around the 1-minute mark:

Danelo Cavalcante captured after escape from Pa. prisonyoutu.be

Talking heads on WTXF-TV narrated the pose in the above video and seemed a bit taken aback.

"Well, that's interesting," a male on-air personality said as video played. "I don't know that I've ever seen anything like that."

"Where they're posing for a photo?" a female on-air personality asked.

"Except maybe in a war zone," the male added.

Here's what other woke folks had to say on social media about the pose with Cavalcante:

• "This is the cringiest thing I have ever seen," one commenter said.
• "Embarrassing," another commenter said.
• "This is lame and totally not surprising that they would do this," another user wrote.
• "This is tacky as hell," another said.
• So embarrassing for law enforcement to do," another commenter remarked. "This isn’t 1880s Arizona."
• "This looks like something straight out of a third rate dictatorship," another user observed. "Shows a lot more weakness than it does strength."
• "Took over two weeks to catch up," another user said. "Prob could’ve skipped the photo fellas."
• "That is disgusting what they are doing," another added.
• "Dude, he's not Pablo Escobar, smh," another commenter noted.
• "Omfg seriously!? This is a proud moment?" another user asked. "This just shows how many it took to capture this little dude!!"
• "This is improper and shameful," another user declared.

'Not bothered at all'

But when a reporter asked Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens about criticism over the "photo op," Bivens tossed cold water all over it.

"Can you explain how that's actually a standard procedure, or what's the reasoning behind the photo op with the fugitive?" the reporter asked.

Bivens replied: "I'm aware that there was a photo op that was taken out there. You know, those men and women worked amazingly hard through some very trying circumstances; they're proud of their work. I'm not bothered at all by the fact that they took a photograph with him in custody. Again, they're proud of their work, they kept the community safe. I say thanks to them and good job."

What's the background?

Law enforcement had been searching for Cavalcante for two weeks. Bivens said a burglar alarm went off after midnight Wednesday at a home in South Coventry Township, KYW-TV reported. The township is about an hour northwest of Philadelphia.

That alarm was investigated, but Cavalcante was not found, the station said. However, nearby tactical teams and an aircraft picked up a heat signal, KYW said, and authorities began to track it.

Following overnight storms, the teams around 8 a.m. converged on the area where the heat signal was detected, the station said.

"They were able to move in very quietly, they had the element of surprise," Bivens said, according to KYW. "Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded until that had occurred."

Cavalcante was wearing a gray Philadelphia Eagles hoodie at the time the photo op was taken; he also changed his appearance during his time on the run, the station said.

The fugitive also stole a .22 rifle from a homeowner in the East Nantmeal area, KYW said. East Nantmeal is about 8 miles southeast of South Coventry Township. Police told the station the homeowner fired several shots at Cavalcante.

The convicted killer was inside the homeowner's garage Monday night when the rifle theft took place, NBC News reported, adding that cops responded to the home in minutes, but Cavalcante was gone. Bivens told NBC News he believed Cavalcante, 34, who had been on the run since Aug. 31, was unharmed.

More from KYW:

Chester County officials were initially tight-lipped about how Cavalcante escaped the prison.

But nearly a week after the search, officials released a video of Cavalcante using his arms and legs to push himself up a prison wall, which was the same way another inmate got out earlier this year.

Once he was on the roof, Cavalcante got past additional layers of razor wire and a corrections officer failed to notice the inmate's escape.

The corrections officer was placed on administrative leave and eventually fired, the Chester County District Attorney's Office said. The officer worked at the prison for 18 years.

Before his escape, Cavalcante was set to be transferred to a state correctional institution after being sentenced to life without parole for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, 38 times in the Phoenixville area in 2021 in front of her two young kids.

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