Officer Down: Peter Soulis (review), 2

Continued from "Officer Down: Peter Soulis (review)"

In this brief analysis of the incident in question, please do not construe my comments as a criticism of Officer Soulis. There are many things to keep in mind in situations like these, and departmental policy can also have an effect on how police react under threatening situations.

Now back to the incident. I believe Stephen and drpaleo are correct in saying that it was a critical mistake to send the subject back to his own car. Bruce also picked up on the fact that the red flag had already gone up in the officer's head, and he should not have relaxed his control of the situation or the subject (as he did by sending him back to the car).

When you get those inner danger signals, you ignore them at your own peril.

I believe the second critical tactical mistake was to approach the subject from the passenger side of the car. The subject's right arm (the one that the officer suspected held a weapon) was in front, between the subject's legs.

Approaching the driver's side from the rear would require that the subject turn around to his left in order to get a clean shot at the officer. The slight delay and the awkward firing position would have given the officer the advantage in the exchange. As it was, the subject simply raised his arm to the right and fired.

Well, thanks for thinking that through with me, and I want to thank those who commented. The whole point of an exercise like this is to give all of us a little more background and data in case we find ourselves needing to think and react tactically.