There was an officer in my area in the last couple months who responded to a domestic assault/hostage incident. He carefully approached the assailant and asks if he has any weapons. Assailant says no. Cop negotiates his way into the home, agreeing not to bring his weapon as a sign of trust (and does so since assailant says no weapons were on site). After a few hours of negotiating, things turned quickly. Assailant grabs an assault rifle he was hiding and kills the cop, another cop, and a paramedic tending to one of the cops.
I was able to watch the funeral procession from my office. The procession of first responder cars lasted over 90 minutes with people lining the streets showing their support
Was this story anywhere near what happened today? Not remotely close. But cops are wired differently. They can’t make assumptions like you and I can. If they do, they may not make it home to their families.
We do need some self reflection and appreciate our first responders. Do they make mistakes sometimes? Of course. They are human. Are there some horrible at their jobs? Yes, just like any other job. But often their mistakes are generally in an abundance of caution to the public they are serving. They don’t have an easy job and many cities are struggling having enough first responders on their force. So I will reserve my full judgement about this officer until the complete story is released. Like I said, based on what we know now, I would be shocked is felony charges remained and the worst offense will be a traffic citation. But let’s not jump all over our first responders.