[DavidK]

Police are permitted to use one level of force higher than the force being used against them. In this case, although a taser may not be a deadly weapon, but one level up, therefore, permits the use of a gun. Police are taught to stop threats to their own death or other innocents. This does not include shooting the person in the leg or foot to stop him because a person with a bullet in the leg can continue to be a deadly threat. Had the policemen been taken down by the taser the fleeing person could have returned and taken the gun from the policeman and shot him or others. Shooting a fleeing person in the back is not justified unless the fleeing person remains a threat by engaging in the use of force that poses a deadly threat.