The optics are bad, but I'm not sure it shows excessive force. It's easy to say that from the comfort of your couch, but once lethal forced is engaged within the OODA loop (observe / orient / decide / act), it takes time to process through that loop again to determine when to stop. We should consider 2 things here, (1) was the decision to engage in lethal force supported by the evidence on hand at the time of the incident as well as by the individual's actions. I would say that the answer to that part is yes. (2) is was lethal force ceased in an appropriate, and timely manner according to when the threat was clearly no longer actionable? That is a tough one, and likely one that will earn a payout to the family. Not because it was excessive force, but because it just looks bad regardless of whether or not the expectations that made the optics yucky are reasonable. A little force on force training will change your thoughts on this rather quickly if you're being honest with yourself.

The optics are bad, but I'm not sure t shows excessive force. It's easy to say that from the comfort of your couch, but once lethal forced is engaged within the OODA loop (observe / orient / decide / act), it takes time to process through that loop again to determine when to stop. We should consider 2 things here, (1) was the decision to engage in lethal force supported by the evidence on hand at the time of the incident as well as by the individual's actions. I would say that the answer to that part is yes. (2) is was lethal force ceased in an appropriate, and timely manner according to when the threat was clearly no longer actionable? That is a tough one, and likely one that will earn a payout to the family. Not because it was excessive force, but because it just looks bad regardless of whether or not the expectations that made the optics yucky are reasonable. A little force on force training will change your thoughts on this rather quickly if you're being honest with yourself.