Who Says There's Never A Cop Around When You Need One?

[ratcatcher55]

In them situations dont you use it to cold cock the bad guys like in the movies? 

When I was a young man, every cop carried a blackjack just for that reason.  They are much easier to cuff when bad guys are unconsious. (See the Good Old Days)

The officer got way too close. He was in a position to be disarmed pretty easily several times.
The crook knew he was not going to shoot him so he tried to get away.

It looked to me the officer was hoping the crook would stop resisting instead of whooping his ass into complience.
The "large" clerk looked like a rather unimposing ally.

[tt11758]

Since the BG didn't even know the cop was there, the cop should have tazed the guy to put him on the floor and then drawn his weapon and handcuffs. The cop was just as surprised as the perp, so things didn't go by the book.

One practical problem with your suggestion.  Inasmuch as:
1 - The officer couldn't see the BG's hands to see if he was pointing a gun at the clerk, and
2 - Tasers cause involuntary muscle contractions,

tasing a BG who MIGHT be pointing a gun at the clerk, with his booger hook on the bang switch, could conceivably cause the mother of all AD's. 

You don't want to be standing over a bleeding clerk in the aftermath saying, "Oops, my bad."

[fightingquaker13]

This brings us to the question. Should the officer have pulled the trigger? Lets assume no sap, no club and tazing was either a bad idea or he didn't have one. Its him, the BG, the clerk, a bunch of useless civilians who watched a a cop wrestle an armed robber and did nothing and, oh yeah, an unholstered weapon. Me, I'd have shot the guy before the wrestling ensued. I figure that the BG has seen the badge and weapon and heard the commands. Maybe the gun shouldn't have been drawn (I think it was an ok if not ideal call), but drawn it was. If he gets within striking distance, I shoot. What is your take? I'd like to hear from LEOs as well as the rest of us, but LEOs most of all.
FQ13

[kmitch200]

This brings us to the question. Should the officer have pulled the trigger?

In my retired fire guy opinion - no.

I figure that the BG has seen the badge and weapon and heard the commands. Maybe the gun shouldn't have been drawn (I think it was an ok if not ideal call), but drawn it was. If he gets within striking distance, I shoot.

The only problem I see with this is that the cop put HIMSELF within striking distance for no apparent reason. Too bad there is no audio.
No obvious verbal commands. (I haven't watched the vid in a few days but the clerk is out of camera range. This seemed to be the BG's cue to start his stupidity)

Once he closed the gap and put the gun to the guys head, he left himself with no options except killing the guy or getting into a wrestling match. Which all the dimwits around seemed OK with.    

He had a flashlight that could have been used as a baton, and everybody and their brother has a taser as a LEO. Someone mentioned that this was Dayton - (I'm assuming Ohio) They do have tasers but I don't know if every cop has one.

That would have been my 1st choice, second would be spray, deadly force a distant 3rd.

This cop appears to have gotten emotionally wrapped up in the situation and left his training somewhere.