A young Brazilian man who was arrested for allegedly stealing was thrown a birthday party by police officers who discovered he was apprehended on the day he clocked 18.
Celebrating your 18th birthday should be a joyous occasion, but for one Paulo Rodrigo das Neves, from Brazil’s Rio Grande do Norte region, his own birthday celebration was different.
In a now-viral video, officers from Brazil’s Civil Police and Military Police are seen clapping and singing Happy Birthday while the suspect sits in a chair at a police station in Rio Grande do Norte.
Arrested on his birthday after being caught on camera stealing sound equipment and other parts from people’s cars, the teenager got to enjoy a humiliating celebration at the police station.
The police officers even served cake and soda in his honor with video of the occasion making it way to social media platform, Reddit.
“We can’t pass up a date like this,” the police officer filming can be heard ironically saying, as two of his colleagues at the 5th Civil Police Precinct of Macau help set the table for the birthday boy.
Paulo Rodrigo das Neves didn’t seem to happy with the situation, as seen in the viral video.
Officers were later seen cutting the cake and offering a piece to the suspect and his mother, who had accompanied him to the station.
After the video of the bizarre celebration went viral on social networks, Brazil’s Military Police issued a statement informing the public that it would conduct an investigation, and threatened disciplinary action against the police staff who participated in the shameful display.
Civil Police said in a statement that the ‘alleged celebration of the birthday of the man taken to the Macau police station was not planned nor was it known to the institution’.
The force also said it regrets what happened and is going to find out ‘how far its officers were involved in the incident’.
According to several comments on social media, the police were actually celebrating the fact that Paulo Rodrigo das Neves would have to answer for his crimes as an adult, and potentially spending times behind bars.
Watch a video of the police station birthday party below;
