When dozens of law enforcement officers posed for a trophy photo with fugitive Danelo Cavalcante, captured after a two-week manhunt (“‘It was just a matter of time,’” Sept. 14), I thought of my late father.
Dad didn’t like people spiking the football when they scored a touchdown. Asked why not, he’d quote Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, that old school Western Pa. sports icon: “Act like you’ve been to the end zone before, and like you plan to be back.”
Cops are human. They were tired and sore, and they’d been frustrated again and again. It was a relief when Cavalcante was tracked down without incident.
Call me old school, but I still think it would have been better to act like it was no big deal. That says to the bad guys, “We’ve been here before, with criminals just as cunning and ruthless as you — maybe more so. And should you escape, we’ll do it again.”
EUGENE V. TORISKY JR.
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First Published: September 17, 2023, 9:30 a.m.