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Laughable amount of armchair quarterbacking by people who have more than likely never been in an even remotely comparable situation, and an excellent example of trying to figure out how to apply the black and white expectations society has of Police Officers to the dirtiest and grayest of situations.
The "what ifs" are endless. What if one of those deflected rounds had struck a pregnant mother walking with her children to church? A murderer. What if the Officer had elected not to shoot, and instead of crashing into the elementary school, the two young men driving the expedition had successfully made entry, as one of them attempted to do, and children were injured or killed as a result? A coward.
Policies are always clear as mud on such issues. Most agencies I know of read something along the lines of "Officers shall not fire a weapon from a moving vehicle. . . UNLESS it is absoultely necessary to apprehend a suspect immediately to protect innocent lives (ie suspect actively driving and shooting).
Alls well that ends well. Society's motto in regards to the police, of whom they expect to be godlike in situations like this, knowing every detail and every possible outcome before and during an event, perfectly preserving every life and piece of property and successfully apprehending criminals every time. The reality is situations like this have NO right answers, and it's more like trying to catch as many pieces of a collapsing tower as you can before it hits the ground. There's always collateral damage. The actions that saved lives during last week's incident may result in them being lost if applied to todays, and there is no rewind button.
I won't criticize the Officers actions in any way. I believe he had nothing but the best of intentions, performed to the best of his knowledge and ability, and luckily for him, achieved the desired outcome with no loss of innocent life.
A few tactical take aways that could potentially assist someone's thought process in other situations.
Shooting through auto glass, especially windshields, produces unpredictable (for the most part) results, and isn't an effective way to hit a target, seek alternatives.
A large number of bullets can be fired in a very short amount of time in bad situations. Carry enough ammunition and practice reloads.
Time and distance are on our side. . . . until they aren't. Threats should be constantly reassessed as they could evolve (such as gunmen trying to enter a school) at any given second, requiring a complete change I'm tactics.
Just my humble thoughts on the matter.
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