Firstly, the NYPD has a bit a history with its officers blazing away in a uncontrolled manner. At some point the phrase “pattern and practice” beings to intrude itself onto my thinking. Maybe that wasn’t the case here, but I can’t help but wonder.

Secondly, anyone who wasn’t a police officer would be in considerable danger of prosecution had their rounds wounded a passerby: non-police are held to account for every round that leaves their gun. Somehow I doubt that that is the case here. Moreover ordinary folks would almost certainly face a ruinous civil suit; in this case, however, the wounded may eventually recover from the city but the people who made the decision won’t face any real risk.

The cops also had to consider their partner’s response. Going in for a tackle while your partner draws his gun could be a big mess. There’d be a good chance that even if you could make contact before getting shot yourself, you wouldn’t be able to prevent your opponent from shooting your partner (who would not be able to return fire, due to your grappling with the opponent).

Bullcrap. The police were eight feet away from the perpetrator. Innocent bystanders were all around. They could have tackled the guy in the time it would have taken him to raise and fire his gun. Instead, they wasted time drawing their own guns and then wildly blazed away with nine of the sixteen bullets completely missing the guy. Mr. Magoo could have done better.