[Byte1]

I do not know the specifics of the incident where he might have acted and had not. He may have been telling the truth when he said he did not know where the shooting was, how many perps and what kind of armament he/they possessed. I am not saying that he acted prudently, but I am not saying he did either. I know of several incidents where a veteran officer was attempting an apprehension and a rookie officer stood back, confused as to what to do. Was that officer acting cowardly? Or, was it just his/her lack of experience? I do not want to see officers of the law punished criminally for failing to do something when there is also the possibility of them being charged with excessive force, just because the perp is black or female, etc. I have seen many/many choke holds that worked to subdue the perp, and NONE of them resulted in a fatality. Yet, in the past few years it is suddenly a bad act when the dirt bag criminal with a violent past perishes due to excessive force. It seems like every time a choke hold is used with fatal results, the subject has a repeated criminal record of violence and drug usage. But, I digress.
From the little that I know of this situation, I would NOT agree with the officer being charged criminally, but with the little that I know I would probably wish to see his employment terminated. But, like I said before I know little of the details but a lot of opinions on how everyone seems to think happened.
I have a former police officer friend that has been in shoot or don't shoot situations where he would have been justified in killing the subject, yet he held back and the situation worked out favorably. He was NEVER, EVER accused of being a coward. Although, no one was injured seriously in those incidents. Some of us are fast to judge folks for not reacting fast enough in these situations. It's easy to criticize later. Law enforcement have to make critical decisions in seconds and they must have all the facts to act appropriately. Making a life depending decision in a split second is usually based on a "gut feeling" not always based on available information. I believe this officer was working by himself, without anyone backing him, watching his back and giving him support. Maybe he made a bad decision, or maybe he was waiting for support. If he had rushed in and resulted in making things worse, he would have been accused of being brash, careless or foolish. The results determine the hero from the fool.